Time: 13:40-14:10
Over the past few years, developments in computational science and technology became increasingly important in the progress of biomedical research and predictive biomedicine. The growing dominance of computerized information (medical imaging, electronic patient records, automation of clinical studies) is considerably enhancing further progress in medical practice and research together with its empirical tradition. As a result, medicine is developing closer links to bioengineering, computer science and mathematics. The advancements in the power of modern computers along with the progress in imaging, visualization and geometry reconstruction techniques, as well as the improvement of sophisticated numerical algorithms, allow for the development and analysis of highly complex models. The final goal is to set up patient-specific models and simulations incorporating data and measurements taken from each single patient, that will be able to predict the results of medical diagnosis and therapeutic planning with reasonable accuracy and using non-invasive means.
According to the most recent statistics, cardiovascular diseases represent the major cause of death in developed countries, having a significant impact in the cost and overall status of healthcare. Consequently, the understanding of the fundamental aspects of the pathophysiology and treatment of these diseases are subjects of the greatest importance around the world, giving a key impulse to the progress in mathematical and numerical modeling of the associated complex phenomena governed by heterogeneous physical laws. However, the circulatory system is highly integrated and modeling its various functions is an incredibly challenging problem, which still requires many fundamental issues to be addressed.
Mathematical Models and Simulation in Biomedicine is a Master’s course addressed to students of Applied Mathematics and Biomedical Engineering, dedicated to an introduction to modeling and simulations of the human cardiovascular system. This includes fundamental topics such as an overview of blood rheology, constitutive models for blood flow dynamics, mathematical models for the vessel wall, FSI techniques for blood flow in compliant vessels, reduced 1D models, geometrical multiscale modeling of the circulatory system. Applications to some clinical cases are also included in the program.
The course requires solid basis provided in standard mathematical undergraduate courses, knowledge of advanced computational methods and interest in biology, medicine, mathematics and computations.
This lecture is devoted to the presentation of the main topics of the course, the requested computational background, the supporting bibliography, as well as the evaluation practices. Numerical simulations of some test cases in idealized and realistic geometries of blood vessels will be shown.
