At five litres per minute the average human heart pumps nearly 200 megalitres of blood through the body in a lifetime. The ultimate goal is to simulate heart function with high accuracy using a computer model that can be personalised using medical imaging. Every person’s heart is unique and a customisable model of both the geometry and the dynamics of the heart is required. These provide information on tissue properties, blood pressure and flow rates and, of course, the shape and size of the heart and its chambers. Some day soon, each of us will have a mathematical model of our heart, using measurements and parameter values that tune it to our individual physiology.

Source: The Irish Times January 18, 2018 07:52 UTC