Finite element-immersed boundary method and its application to mitral valves
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Mathematics & Statistics
Abstract
Each year, about 225,000 valve replacements in the heart are performed worldwide. In particular, mitral valve (MV) diseases such as mitral regurgitation (leakage) may lead to left ventricle (LV) dilation, decreased LV function, and increased rates of atrial fibrillation. Mathematical modelling can help us to understand MV diseases and their relationship with LV functions. However, compared to the aortic valves, the MV has been significantly understudied due to its more complex anatomical structure. We will deliver Magnetic Resonance Image based dynamic MV models which will include important features such as fluid-structure interaction and nonlinear soft tissue modelling. This will be achieved by developing novel numerical methods; i.e. a new finite element version of immersed boundary method with adaptive mesh refinement (IBAMR). The work will be carried out through an interdisciplinary collaboration between Mathematics at Glasgow, the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Science, and the primary developer of the IBAMR software, Prof. Boyce Griffith from NYU. IBAMR represents the state of the art immersed boundary methods, and is gaining increasing popularity in the USA due to its accuracy. Prof. Luo is one of the leading developers of this software. One of the important strengths of this project is the direct involvement of the Cardiovascular Research centre, which has the most advanced MRI facilities in the UK, and is linked to Golden Jubilee National Hospital and Western Infirmary. Thus we will have access to valve geometries from healthy and diseased patients. Most importantly, we will obtain 3D temporal displacement and strain vector field of the MV in vivo using the state of the art imaging techniques. This will tie the computational simulations with clinical applications together and allow us to identify key elements and parameters in our models.Modelling the dynamics of the MV to understand its mechanical performance in health and disease offers exciting new opportunities. Apart from addressing important physiological and pathological questions about the MV functions, our findings will serve as springboard for further research on other valvular heart disease. Improved understanding of the basic mechanisms of heart valve function will result in improved clinical therapies and therefore has clear social benefit. Ultimately, our aim is to delay or prevent progression of valvular disease, for example, by modulating transvalvular blood flow or engaging pharmacological approaches to modify cardiac output and valve elasticity. The framework to be developed from this project will also be used immediately to multi-scale models of the whole heart aiming at understanding acute myocardial infarction.
Planned Impact
Our application will have several impacts: (a) Young researchers: The project will provide the ideal environment to train a PhD student and a highly skilled post-doc RA. (b) Academic community in fundamental research: The science is cutting edge and the computational framework is at the state of the art in the bio-computational community. The proposed work will be fundamental to the fluid and solid mechanics. (c) Mitral valve research community: The application of this framework will address important questions on MV mechanics. The application of modelling the mitral valve so as to understand its mechanical performance in healthy and diseased states offers exciting new challenges. (d) Knowledge base: The research will develop an open source library with state of the art fluid-structure interactions and soft tissue constitutive modelling, which will be beneficial to a large number of research groups both inside the UK and worldwide. (e) Clinical Sector and NHS: Modelling to understand heart valve diseases and other physiological problems will enhance diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. (f) Patients: In the longer term, the collective effort in the research area will directly benefit patients and improve their quality of life.
Publications
Luo X
(2011)
Effect of bending rigidity in a dynamic model of a polyurethane prosthetic mitral valve
in Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology
Zhu Y
(2013)
Three-dimensional non-linear buckling of thick-walled elastic tubes under pressure
in International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics
Wang HM
(2013)
Structure-based finite strain modelling of the human left ventricle in diastole.
in International journal for numerical methods in biomedical engineering
Ma X
(2013)
Image-based fluid-structure interaction model of the human mitral valve
in Computers & Fluids
Wang HM
(2014)
A modified Holzapfel-Ogden law for a residually stressed finite strain model of the human left ventricle in diastole.
in Biomechanics and modeling in mechanobiology
Gao H
(2014)
A finite strain nonlinear human mitral valve model with fluid-structure interaction.
in International journal for numerical methods in biomedical engineering
Gao H
(2014)
Quasi-static image-based immersed boundary-finite element model of left ventricle under diastolic loading.
in International journal for numerical methods in biomedical engineering
Gao H
(2014)
Left ventricular strain and its pattern estimated from cine CMR and validation with DENSE.
in Physics in medicine and biology
Gao H
(2014)
Dynamic finite-strain modelling of the human left ventricle in health and disease using an immersed boundary-finite element method.
in IMA journal of applied mathematics
Zhu Y
(2014)
A numerical study of a heart phantom model
in International Journal of Computer Mathematics
Title | YouTube |
Description | Our events are recorded and published in youtube: https://youtu.be/Ydo4G5VmSOo https://youtu.be/mH8CgNYvRw8 We also have updated animations of our modelling posted on YouTube since 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcUNUmbCJSI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qko55MsoX8k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAX8xnykZJM |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | This is hard to assess. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcUNUmbCJSI |
Description | We have developed a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction model of mitral valve (MV) and left ventricle which includes nonlinear finite strain elasticity. We found that the chordae, as well as the valve property, play an important role in the valve function, in terms of closing and opening. We also have built a left ventricle model, and are in the process of linking the mitral valve and left ventricle together for the first time. The interplay of these two has not been studied before. Finally, we have developed a coupled MV-left ventricle model, and discover that the flow patterns inside the heart are significantly affected by the presence of the MV. Since 2018, we have made further progress by expanding our MV model to evaluate the effects of the physiological structure of the chordae, and by modelling the coupling of the left atrium and MV. This has enabled us to study a number of important pathological changes due to MV defects. The work is being written up for publication. |
Exploitation Route | Our computational models can be used by other researchers for future research. The research papers we published are already been cited by other researchers, who benefit from our observations and predictions. Indeed, we recently teamed up with Dr. Zhao from Loughborough University and Dr. Ciulli from Bristol Heart Institute and developed a new EPSRC proposal on "Predicting the Long-Term Outcome of Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair with MitraClip NT" |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Healthcare Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
URL | http://www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~xl |
Description | Our work has been published at International Journals and presented at various conferences. People are already citing our results in their work. From 2016-2018, we organized annual outreach activities in the "European Researchers' Night" on the last Friday of Septembers, where thousands of parents and school pupils attended. We demonstrated what our mathematical models can do to help with heart diseases. In 2015, we organized two outreach activities, one at the Explore Glasgow West End Festival, July 2015, and one at "Meet the Expert" at the Glasgow Science Festival, Nov, 2015. We have shown the general public what we do, and why our models can be important in the disease treatment of mitral valves. The project provided training for our early career researchers (Gao and Feng) providing them with the platform to progress their careers. We developed new finite element boundary methods which we used to develop new models for the mitral valve, left ventricle and various coupled systems. This research strengthened our academic collaborations and established the team that successfully secured EP/N014642/1 EPSRC Maths centre for Healthcare (SofTMech). The engagement and outreach activities of the SofTMech centre help promote this model to interested stakeholders in the Mitral valve research community. |
First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
Description | A whole-heart model of multiscale soft tissue mechanics and fluid structure interaction for clinical applications (Whole-Heart-FSI) |
Amount | £1,304,759 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/S020950/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2025 |
Description | EPSRC Maths Centre for Healthcare |
Amount | £1,998,909 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/N014642/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2016 |
End | 03/2020 |
Description | Effect of vasomotion on efficient flow delivery in microvascular network |
Amount | HK$500,000 (HKD) |
Organisation | Research Grants Council Hong Kong |
Sector | Public |
Country | China |
Start | 09/2013 |
End | 08/2016 |
Description | Feasibility study on the Predictive Modelling of Extruder Design and Behaviour upon Fibre Orientation in an extruder Collagen Tube |
Amount | £40,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2012 |
End | 09/2013 |
Description | First steps towards computed modelling of myocardial infarction (an MI Physiome): A case-control study of novel biomechanical parameters in acute MI survivors with left ventricular dysfunction |
Amount | £104,456 (GBP) |
Funding ID | G/14/64/31043 |
Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2014 |
End | 03/2016 |
Description | Initiating new transformative ideas to heart remodelling (Pump-Priming) |
Amount | £20,173 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2012 |
End | 04/2013 |
Description | Mechanical and Finite Element Modelling of Collagen Casing Manufacture and Application |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Government of Scotland |
Department | Scottish Funding Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2013 |
End | 09/2014 |
Description | Myocardial strain measurements in survivors of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction: implementation and prognostic significance of novel magnetic resonance imaging methods |
Amount | £118,075 (GBP) |
Funding ID | CRTF09-31639 |
Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2015 |
End | 09/2018 |
Description | POEMS Network |
Amount | £17,500 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2016 |
End | 03/2017 |
Description | SofTMech with MIT and POLIMI (SofTMechMP) |
Amount | £1,599,530 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/S030875/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2020 |
End | 06/2025 |
Description | The Leverhulme Research Fellowship |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | RF-2015-510 |
Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2015 |
End | 09/2017 |
Description | Work on the Predictive Modelling of Extruded Collagen Tube Fund from IAA-EPSRC and Devro LTD |
Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2012 |
End | 04/2013 |
Title | Computational models and methodology |
Description | We developed finite element immersed boundary methods and used these to develop new models for mitral valve, left ventricle and various coupled systems. |
Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Our publications are cited by a number of other research groups, and we are invited to give talks at conferences/workshops |
URL | http://www.glasgowheart.org/ |
Title | Open Source software, https://github.com/IBAMR/IBAMR |
Description | This open source software can be used by any research groups who are interested in modelling fluid-structure interaction and soft tissues |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | We contributed to the develpment of this open source. |
URL | https://github.com/IBAMR/IBAMR |
Description | New academic collabrations |
Organisation | Heriot-Watt University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Our research enabled us to establish new collabrations with three other Universities (St. Andrews, Heriot-Watt, Sheffield), and together we successfully secured 2M funding for an EPSRC Maths centre for Heathcare (SofTMech). |
Collaborator Contribution | Our collabrators (Mark Chaplain, Steve McDougall, Paul Watton) work extensively cancer research and agent-based modelling, which opened up an exciting new route of multi-scale modelling of soft tissues applied to heart and cancer. |
Impact | These are new collabrations, so too early to tell. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | New academic collabrations |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Our research enabled us to establish new collabrations with three other Universities (St. Andrews, Heriot-Watt, Sheffield), and together we successfully secured 2M funding for an EPSRC Maths centre for Heathcare (SofTMech). |
Collaborator Contribution | Our collabrators (Mark Chaplain, Steve McDougall, Paul Watton) work extensively cancer research and agent-based modelling, which opened up an exciting new route of multi-scale modelling of soft tissues applied to heart and cancer. |
Impact | These are new collabrations, so too early to tell. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | New academic collabrations |
Organisation | University of St Andrews |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Our research enabled us to establish new collabrations with three other Universities (St. Andrews, Heriot-Watt, Sheffield), and together we successfully secured 2M funding for an EPSRC Maths centre for Heathcare (SofTMech). |
Collaborator Contribution | Our collabrators (Mark Chaplain, Steve McDougall, Paul Watton) work extensively cancer research and agent-based modelling, which opened up an exciting new route of multi-scale modelling of soft tissues applied to heart and cancer. |
Impact | These are new collabrations, so too early to tell. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | New clinical collabration |
Organisation | NHS Royal Hospital for Children |
Department | Department of Cardiac Surgery |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Our model simulations have raised the keen interests of the cardiologists and they start to approach us and suggesting new collabrations. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have made new reserach collabration with Mr. Mark Danton Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, and Dr. Patrick Noonan Consultant Cardiologist, who are helping us to develop clinical cases for mitral valve study. |
Impact | We have submitted a HRUK grant application, which has passed the first round. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | New industrial collabration |
Organisation | Dassault Systemes UK Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Our modelling activities and publications attracted this group, and we are invited to be an academic member of their "Living Heart Project" |
Collaborator Contribution | DASSAULT SYSTÈMES UK LTD agreed to provide 75k in-kind support to our bid for an EPSRC Maths-centre for Healthcare, which was successful. |
Impact | Success of the £2M bid for the EPSRC Centre for Multiscale Soft Tissue Mechanics - with application to heart & cancer |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | 2nd International workshop on Soft Tissue Modelling |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 60 researchers in the area attended this workshop, including the international leading experts. Selected talks followed by poster sessions sparked questions and discussions afterwards. The meeting finished by a lively research forum led by the plenary speakers on future directions of the soft tissue modelling. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/mathematicsstatistics/events/conferences/softtissuemodelling2/ |
Description | Explore Glasgow West End Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This is a large scale joint event by sevearl Universities/Schools at Glasgow Science Centre. It lasted for two days. We set up a stand and made book markers and leaflets, as well as posters and videos. We have attracted a lot of audience |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Outreach |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Meet the Expert at the Glasgow Science Festival |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk at 9th International Biofluid Mechanics And Vascular Mechanobiology Symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Maintain the tradition of excellence and the spirit of the International Bio-fluid Mechanics and Vascular Mechano-Biology Symposia that have evolved to be a unique opportunity for reviewing recent major milestones and achievements in all areas of biofluid mechanics, experimental and computational, from molecule and cell to organ levels and corresponding mechano-biological processes, therapeutics, and cardiovascular devices. The event gathered scientists, clinicians, and practitioners from around the world to explore and assess the latest frontiers of Bio-Fluid Mechanics and Vascular Mechano-Biology, and set important directions for further research and development, and education. The symposium provided an opportunity for investigators to interact with peers, young and seniors, for development of new collaborations, as well as enhancement of existing ones. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://9thbiofluids.com/ |