Overview
The SIMULIA Living Heart Human Model is a groundbreaking, high-fidelity multiphysics simulation of a healthy, four-chamber adult heart, including detailed anatomy such as the Left Ventricle, Left Atrium, Mitral Valve, and Chordae. It realistically replicates the heart's electromechanical behavior, enabling the virtual testing of cardiovascular and rhythm management devices (e.g., artificial valves, stents, defibrillators). This innovative tool accelerates the development of safer, more effective medical technologies by allowing complex scenarios to be tested virtually in days, reducing costs and eliminating challenges inherent in bench or animal testing.
Backed by the power of the SIMULIA Realistic Simulation software suite, the Living Heart can readily be used to study cardiac defects and diseased states and explore treatment options. Medical devices can be inserted into the model to study their influence on cardiac function, to validate their efficacy, and to predict their reliability under a wide range of operating conditions.
The Living Heart Human Model was developed within the Living Heart Project, a translational initiative to advance the use of simulation in the delivery of safe and effective cardiovascular devices and clinical treatments.
Important upcoming update
Starting with 25XFD03 (estimated availability in June 2025), we plan to introduce a new and improved 4-chamber Living Heart Model. This updated version will offer significant functional enhancements and a host of new features designed to provide you with greater accuracy and flexibility for your simulations.
Concurrent with the release of the new 4-chamber Living Heart Model, we’ll no longer be supporting the existing 4-chamber Living Heart Model, nor will it be available for any further downloads. For current users of the existing model, there won’t be any loss of functionality and you will continue to be able to submit simulation jobs using it up through 25XFD02. However, we will not provide bug fixes or workarounds for the existing model and encourage such users to make plans for a migration to the new model as soon as possible following the release primarily to take advantage of its significant enhancements.
The transition to the new model should be relatively straightforward conceptually for existing users, but maximizing its potential as related to geometric adaptability may require additional training as the geometry is constructed natively with CATIA (as has been the case with the left heart model for some time now).
Key Features of the new 4-chamber Living Heart Model:
The updated model will be available starting 25XFD03, offering new functionalities that the current model does not support, such as:
- Geometry Attributes: The CAD geometry is created natively in CATIA, allowing for high customizability through uniform scaling, parameter and manual morphing. It is based on new medical images of an average healthy male, with compliant geometry thereby facilitating extensions for CFD/FSI simulations.
- FEM Attributes: Mesh quality and element selection have been optimized for improved performance. Myocardial tissue calibration and pericardial effects are enhanced for better fidelity, along with flexible methodologies for customizing fiber orientations. An adaptable model for simulating blood flow is implemented.
- Solution Attributes: The model response aligns with broader set of demographic metrics, with a direct procedure for pre-loaded heart geometry and improved valve morphology, particularly for the tricuspid valve. A new Purkinje network and electrical calibration generate accurate electrical activation and six-channel ECG.
- Process: Enhanced support for model definition through 3DEXPERIENCE reduces keyword edits, while a comprehensive user guide and expanded training materials (including those on geometry adaptation) improve usability. Grid job submission is supported on advanced hardware without core limits.
What You Need to Do:
We encourage you to consider the timeline for release of the new model when embarking on new projects that may utilize the current model. If you want to reperform simulations performed with the existing model, you will need to redefine the simulations using the new model. It is not possible to automatically migrate attributes from an existing model to the new one. .
If you have any questions or require assistance during the transition, our team is available to help. Please visit https://www.3ds.com/support/contact-your-support-center to find your nearest resource.
