Modelling Studies of Cardiovascular Disease

The CVBRU has developed close links with the internationally renowned Academic Unit of Medical Physics at the University of Sheffield in order to facilitate computer-modelling research within the clinical side of the unit. So far the collaboration has led to two major grants for programmes of research.

The first is an NIHR RISC Grant entitled “Modelling the Significance of Coronary Artery Lesions.” This is to undertake a programme of clinical translational research where computational modelling will be used to estimate the physiological significance of Coronary Artery Disease from angiographic images alone and to predict the changes that will occur after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

This single-centre observational study will adapt and validate software that can “read” a patient’s coronary angiogram to determine which lesions are hemodynamically significant, without resort to non-invasive scans or pressure wire interrogation.

The second of the two grants is an EPSRC Grant for “Grand Challenges: Translating Biomedical Modelling into the Heart of the Clinic.” It is in partnership with other centres, including Kings College London, Guys and St Thomas’, University College London and the University of Oxford. The aim here is to further develop cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) for Chronic Heart Failure.

This work will test in silico the effect of CRT refinements such as position and number of pacing leads and pacemaker settings. The image and data fusion tools developed as part of this proposal will enable devices to be sited optimally as determined by the biophysical models. The use of real patient data in this work will improve future design and testing of CRT systems and strategies.