Integrative hybrid modeling of the heart

Computational biomechanics has undergone a tremendous evolution in the last ten years. Thanks to increasing computational resources and novel and sophisticated software tools, biomechanical problems, which could be hardly undertaken ten years ago, are now easily addressed. As happens in these cases, borders are then moved farther and researchers explore new applications. In the last years a growing interest has been focused on patient specific modeling thanks to the concomitant great progress in imaging which is providing diagnostic possibilities that have not been available before.

Indeed, personalized healthcare can greatly benefit from imaging; the phenomenology of complex biological behaviors can be, at a large extent, caught through imaging; although currently limited by inadequate spatial and temporal resolutions, indeed, imaging can represent an important source of information thus integrating and complementing simulation capabilities.

In the talk a number of examples of possible applications will be provided where patient specific modeling can be successfully approached by combining simulations and imaging, in a heterogeneous framework, what we define as integrative or hybrid modeling.