Dassault Systèmes’ Living Heart Project

Abstract

Translational medical research seeks to foster the multidirectional and multidisciplinary integration of basic research, patient-oriented research, and population-based research, with the long-term aim of improving the health of the public (Rubio D, et al., Acad Med. 85:470–475, 2010). A prerequisite of the translation process is a foundation suitable for training the practitioners of new methodologies. The members of the Living Heart Project aim to serve a translational role for the adoption of computational modeling and simulation into cardiovascular medicine and ultimately provide the scientific and evidentiary foundation for the use of such tools in medical practice. We describe the unique features of the Living Heart Project that enable it to pursue this goal and further, by way of select application examples, demonstrate that it should be possible to develop a robust heart simulation platform with sufficient breadth as to establish a foundation for virtual training with the realism found today in modern pilot training systems.