Credible practice of modeling and simulation in healthcare: ten rules from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The complexities of modern biomedicine are rapidly increasing. Thus, modeling and simulation have become increasingly important as a strategy to understand and predict the trajectory of pathophysiology, disease genesis, and disease spread in support of clinical and policy decisions. In such cases, inappropriate or ill-placed trust in the model and simulation outcomes may result in negative outcomes, and hence illustrate the need to formalize the execution and communication of modeling and simulation practices.

On the simulation of mitral valve function in health, disease, and treatment.

The mitral valve (MV) is the heart valve that regulates blood ?ow between the left atrium and left ventricle (LV). In situations where the MV fails to fully cover the left atrioventricular ori?ce during systole, the resulting regurgitation causes pulmonary congestion, leading to heart failure and/or stroke. The causes of MV insuf?ciency can be either primary (e.

Development of a Functionally Equivalent Model of the Mitral Valve Chordae Tendineae Through Topology Optimization.

Ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) is a currently prevalent disease in the US that is projected to become increasingly common as the aging population grows. In recent years, image-based simulations of mitral valve (MV) function have improved significantly, providing new tools to refine IMR treatment. However, clinical implementation of MV simulations has long been hindered as the in vivo MV chordae tendineae (MVCT) geometry cannot be captured with sufficient fidelity for computational modeling.

A noninvasive method for the determination of in vivo mitral valve leaflet strains.

Assessment of mitral valve (MV) function is important in many diagnostic, prognostic, and surgical planning applications for treatment of MV disease. Yet, to date, there are no accepted noninvasive methods for determination of MV leaflet deformation, which is a critical metric of MV function. In this study, we present a novel, completely noninvasive computational method to estimate MV leaflet in-plane strains from clinical-quality real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (rt-3DE) images.

Design approach of an aquaculture cage system for deployment in the constructed channel flow environments of a power plant.

This study provides an engineering approach for designing an aquaculture cage system for use in constructed channel flow environments. As sustainable aquaculture has grown globally, many novel techniques have been introduced such as those implemented in the global Atlantic salmon industry. The advent of several highly sophisticated analysis software systems enables the development of such novel engineering techniques.

Credibility, Replicability, and Reproducibility in Simulation for Biomedicine and Clinical Applications in Neuroscience.

Modeling and simulation in computational neuroscience is currently a research enterprise to better understand neural systems. It is not yet directly applicable to the problems of patients with brain disease. To be used for clinical applications, there must not only be considerable progress in the field but also a concerted effort to use best practices in order to demonstrate model credibility to regulatory bodies, to clinics and hospitals, to doctors, and to patients.

Multi-resolution geometric modeling of the mitral heart valve leaflets.

An essential element of cardiac function, the mitral valve (MV) ensures proper directional blood flow between the left heart chambers. Over the past two decades, computational simulations have made marked advancements toward providing powerful predictive tools to better understand valvular function and improve treatments for MV disease. However, challenges remain in the development of robust means for the quantification and representation of MV leaflet geometry.

A comprehensive pipeline for multi-resolution modeling of the mitral valve: Validation, computational efficiency, and predictive capability.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that the pathological geometries unique to each patient can affect the durability of mitral valve (MV) repairs. While computational modeling of the MV is a promising approach to improve the surgical outcomes, the complex MV geometry precludes use of simplified models. Moreover, the lack of complete in vivo geometric information presents significant challenges in the development of patient-specific computational models.

Mitral Valve Chordae Tendineae: Topological and Geometrical Characterization.

Mitral valve (MV) closure depends upon the proper function of each component of the valve apparatus, which includes the annulus, leaflets, and chordae tendineae (CT). Geometry plays a major role in MV mechanics and thus highly impacts the accuracy of computational models simulating MV function and repair. While the physiological geometry of the leaflets and annulus have been previously investigated, little effort has been made to quantitatively and objectively describe CT geometry.

Ex Vivo Methods for Informing Computational Models of the Mitral Valve.

Computational modeling of the mitral valve (MV) has potential applications for determining optimal MV repair techniques and risk of recurrent mitral regurgitation. Two key concerns for informing these models are (1) sensitivity of model performance to the accuracy of the input geometry, and, (2) acquisition of comprehensive data sets against which the simulation can be validated across clinically relevant geometries. Addressing the first concern, ex vivo micro-computed tomography (microCT) was used to image MVs at high resolution (~40 micron voxel size).