Virtual Pathological Heart of the Virtual Physiological Human

Acronym of the case:

VPH2

Web address of the case:

http://www.vph2.eu/

Country of the case:

Germany , Greece , Italy , Poland , Switzerland , United Kingdom

Posting Date:

2 November 2010

Last Edited Date:

02 November 2010

Author:

Michele Carenini (NoemaLife Spa)

heart disease | Computational model | software application

Type of initiative

Project or service

Case Abstract

VPH2 (Virtual Pathological Heart of the Virtual Physiological Human) aims to develop a patient-specific computational modelling and simulation of the human heart to assist the cardiologist and the cardiac surgeon in defining the severity and extent of disease in patient withÂ Left Ventricular Dysfunction (LVD) , with or without Functional Mitral Regurgitation (FMR).

Heart failure accounts for almost a quarter of all admission to hospital for cardiovascular events, has a high mortality (median survival around 18 months), and places a great burden on all healthcare systems.

Specific computational methods will allow clinical decision making and planning the optimal treatment for the Heart Failure patient condition.

The associated technological aim of the project is to deliver an advanced software application framework for the development of computer-aided medicine in cardiology and cardiac surgery.

Description of the case

Domain

eHealth

Topic

Computer assisted surgery | Decision support systems | ICT for disease prevention and health promotion | Medical Imaging | Personal Health Systems

Sector

Healthcare

Date

July 2008 to June 2011

Target Users

Health authorities | Health professionals

Scope

International

Language(s)

English

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

IT infrastructures and products

Overall Implementation approach

Partnerships between administration and/or private sector and/or non-profit sector

Technology choice

Not applicable/not available

Funding source

Public funding EU

Project size

Implementation: €5,000,000-10,000,000

Implementation and Management Approach

VPH2 is the development of a high-powered framework platform aiming at improving the heart-diseases management processes in defining the severity and extent of disease in patients with post-ischemic LVD, and in particular at:

Integrating clinical, biological and genetic data retrieved from medical records and laboratories research results in order to offer an innovative therapeutic tool for the surgical and medical decision making.
Supporting cardiac surgeons with advanced simulation and modelling tools to be applied to obtain better selection and simulation of specific surgical procedures.
Providing a new framework and multimodal approach that will be then useful in other clinical scenarios of cardiology and cardiac surgery involving for example hybrid imaging PET-CT, molecular and functional imaging, etc.

VPH2 will provide a fundamental framework clearly beyond the current state of the art which will allow the building of a subject-specific multiscale model of the heart (from tissue to genes) and of the valves.

Research and Technology development results will be:

Cross-correlation methods and computational models for representing and interpreting heterogeneous data sets (such as clinical data, genomics, environmental and biological ones).
Creation of a chronic computational model to simulate pathology and disease progression in order to assist clinical decision making and new technology development.
Advanced imaging and visualisation techniques with particular emphasis in advanced multimodal visualisation and modelling algorithms, 4-D representation.

The final VPH2 system will be installed in the test-beds and its services will be exercised. The objective of this task is to make the VPH2 system available to non-IT partners or other end users to assess it from an operational point of view. In order to accomplish this objective, a series of scenarios on use of the system will be realised by the respective partners. The scenarios will be described for each validation site and measurable indicators will be identified. During this task, a questionnaire will be prepared and distributed to the users of the system in order to provide clear results on the ease of use, efficacy and usability and validity of services.

Impact, innovation and results

Impact

Expected ResultsÂ and Impacts:

VPH2 is a simulation-based medical planning system for cardiovascular diseases to evaluate other options than surgical treatment. One important factor is the availability of tools for collecting, storing, analysing and linking different types of data: this will help clinicians in their daily activity and allow researchers to look at all data originated by scientific instrumentation or available in databanks.

VPH2 will affect the costs of managing chronic diseases. The direct medical costs of CVD treatment range from 1% to 2% of total health expenditures in several countries, and two thirds of CVD costs derive from hospitalisation. Readmission rates at six months ranged from 15% to 50% in different studies.

The simulation of the heart function offers a tool to better understand the pathogenesis of heart failure (HF) and to develop proper treatment strategies to reduce readmissions.

The Healthcare system will finally benefit from a reduction of surgical operations numbers. A tailored patient-specific pharmacological treatment will help doctors to simulate alternative drug treatments and to decide for the surgical intervention only as a last option.

On the other hand, in case it appears unavoidable, cardio-surgeons will have the option to simulate and predict the final result.

Track record of sharing

VPH2 workshop - Firenze, 28 May 2010, during the EuroCMR 2010 Meeting, the VPH2 Consortium held a workshop presenting its first pre-prototype.

VPH2 workshop - Milan, 30th September 2010. The VPH2 Consortium, in order to validate its outcome, organised, with the fundamental support of IFC- CNR, a workshop where a demo was shown to key opinion leaders in the field of cardiac surgery, imaging and heart failure. The workshop took place the 30th September 2010, during the 44Â° Cardiologia Congress, which was held in Milan from the 27th September to the 1st October 2010, and which saw the participation of more than 1500 medical doctors.

VPH2010 - First VPH Conference 30 September - 1 October 2010 Brussels. The Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence (VPH NoE) held the first of a series of VPH Conferences (VPH2010).

Lessons learnt

This field will be completed by the submitter when the lessons learnt have been identified and understood.

Multimedia Content Select a Tab

There isn't any image for this case

There isn't any Video for this case