Model predictive medical decision support for cardiovascular diseases

This webinar of the VPHi Keynote Webinar Series took place on 27 February 2018 at 14 CET featuring Prof Frans van de Vosse from Eindhoven University of Technology under the moderation of Britt van Rooij, member of the VPHi Student Committee.

Patient specific computational modelling of the cardiovascular system will play an increasing role in diagnostics of cardiovascular disease and planning of surgical intervention and medical treatment.

Several main steps towards the clinical applicability of these computational models can be discerned. First, the mathematical model and the applied computational technique must be developed based on physical understanding of the final clinical application. In general the mechanical interaction between blood flow and cardiovascular tissue deformation must be dealt with in a fluid-structure interaction model. Next these models need to be verified with respect to the physical phenomena they are supposed to describe. In many cases in-vitro models that represent a specific site of the cardiovascular system can be used for this purpose. Thirdly, proper constitutive models for both the solid as well as the fluid must be defined and parameters must be derived from either ex-vivo or in-vivo experimental studies. Next, clinical measurement and imaging techniques that are suitable to assess the parameters that define the patient specificity of the model must be developed and evaluated. In a second sequence of steps, the model must be implemented in a clinical work flow and optimized. After this, the predictive value of the computational model must be determined using uncertainty analysis and the model must be validated  in clinical studies. In the webinar this sequence of steps are illustrated taking currently conducted real life clinical studies as a point of departure.

------

The VPHi keynote webinar series is a quarterly event organized by the VPHi Student Committee that provides a forum for access to senior community members and their expert competence for chiefly young scientists, but also to the VPH community as a whole. 

With the series, VPHi wishes to:

• Offer added value to prospective young scientist VPHi Student members through core content
• Create visibility of VPH knowledge dissemination for external stakeholders
• Highlight excellence within the VPHi, additionally providing student members with a label of quality
• Promote scientific interaction between junior and senior community members and across VPHi disciplines

Prof Frans van de Vosse 

Frans van de Vosse is professor of Cardiovascular Biomechanics. From 1976 to 1982 he studied Applied Physics at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He earned his PhD degree from the same university in 1987. His PhD research was focussed on the numerical analysis of carotid artery flow. From 1987 to 2001 he was lecturer in fluid mechanics with the Materials Technology group in the department of Mechanical Engineering (TU/e). After a sabbatical professorship at Stanford University, in 2001 he was appointed at the department of Biomedical engineering (TU/e). His current research interests are related to the computational and experimental biomechanical analysis of the cardiovascular system and its application to clinical diagnosis and intervention, cardiovascular prostheses, extra corporeal systems and medical devices. In this field Frans van de Vosse was first author or co-author in more than 150 scientific publications.