Validating a Numerical Simulation of Human Heart Motion Using Clinical Data

Abstract

Numerical simulations are increasingly often involved in developing new and improving existing medical therapies. While the models involved in those simulations are designed to resemble a specific phenomenon realistically, the results of the interplay of those models are often not sufficiently validated. We created a plugin for a cardiac simulation framework to validate the simulation results using clinical MRI data. The MRI data were used to create a static wholeheart mesh as well as slices from the left ventricular short axis, providing the motion over time. The static heart was a starting point for a simulation of the heart’s motion. From the simulation result, we created slices and compared them to the clinical MRI slices using two different metrics: the area of the slices and the point distances. The comparison showed global similarities in the deformation of simulated and clinical data, but also indicated points for potential improvements. Performing this comparison with more clinical data could lead to personalized modeling of elastomechanics of the heart.

Keywords

• simulation validation
• numerical simulation
• clinical data
• motion deformation
• human heart