1st 3D human heart simulator coming May 29  —report

Doctors could soon find better ways to treat heart ailments without having to do tests on lab rats – with a 3D model of the organ to be released by a French company.

The "Living Heart Project" by Dassault Systemes seeks to revolutionize cardiovascular science using realistic simulation.

"What if physicians and surgeons could virtually analyze their patients’ health and plan therapies and surgeries using the same advanced simulation technology that the automotive, aerospace, energy and hi-tech industries rely on to test their product before they are built? What if medical devices could be designed and safely tested in the virtual world before ever being tested in the real world?" it said.

It said the project is uniting cardiovascular researchers, educators, medical device developers, regulatory agencies, and practicing cardiologists "on a shared mission to develop and validate highly accurate personalized digital human heart models."

Such models will establish a unified foundation for cardiovascular in silico medicine and serve as a common technology base for education and training, medical device design, testing, clinical diagnosis and regulatory science.

A separate report on tech site Mashable said the model could be released as early as May 29.

It quoted "Living Heart Project" director Steve Levine as saying this could help cardiologists rehearse difficult procedures.

"Starting on May 29, when the heart model is released, doctors can use the baseline healthy heart to study congenital defects or heart disease by modifying the shape and tissue properties through the use of a software editor," it said.

Levine also told Mashable doctors have developed models and simulations of different sections of the heart, but no one had so far been able to put these pieces together for a holistic simulation.

“What we can now do for devices that go inside the heart is you can test it on the computer the same way you can test planes,” he said.

Joining the project are 45 medical professionals, organizations and regulatory agencies, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

FDA had signed a five-year collaborative research agreement with Dassault to help oversee the development of the heart model.

Present shortcomings

Levine noted doctors rely on a 2D image of a dynamic 3D system, which may have great shortcomings.

But he said simulating a valve replacement in 3D first to see how the heart would respond could lessen the chances of negative surgical outcomes. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News