Development of computational tools for patient-specific aortic valve repair simulation

由于加拿大和其他地方的人口老龄化，主动脉瓣疾病患者的数量不断增加。主动脉瓣修复术可以减轻主动脉瓣疾病对生活质量和预期寿命的影响。拟议的研究计划旨在通过为大多数不是该手术专家的心脏外科医生提供可靠的模拟工具，帮助他们以患者特定的方式选择不同的主动脉瓣修复技术，从而使更多患者从主动脉瓣修复中受益。该选择将基于机械方面，例如瓣膜的整体功能、瓣膜组件中的机械应力水平（即，即刻组织撕裂和/或长期钙化风险的预测因子）、打开和关闭特征以及瓣膜的密封质量。此外，还将开发新的方法来减少计算时间。来自渥太华大学心脏研究所的一名主动脉瓣修复专家心脏外科医生和一名训练有素的麻醉师和超声心动图技师承诺继续参与提供医学专业知识和患者数据，从而最大限度地提高研究项目的临床相关性。鉴于主动脉瓣修复术相对于置换术的临床和经济优势，这将极大地有利于加拿大的医疗保健系统。

The number of patients with aortic valve disease keeps growing due to the aging of the population in Canada and elsewhere. Aortic valve repair can mitigate the impact of aortic valve disease on quality of life and life expectancy. The proposed research program aims to allow more patients to benefit from aortic valve repair by providing the majority of cardiac surgeons who are not experts in this procedure with reliable simulation tools to help them choose between different aortic valve repair techniques in a patient-specific manner. This choice will be based on mechanistic aspects such as overall valve function, mechanical stress level in the valvular components (i.e. a predictor of risk of immediate tissue tearing and/or long-term calcification), opening and closing characteristics, and sealing quality of the valve. In addition, new methods will be developed to reduce computational time. An aortic valve repair expert cardiac surgeon and a trained anesthesiologist and echocardiographer from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute have committed their continued participation to provide medical expertise and patient data, thereby maximizing the clinical relevance of the research program. Given the clinical and financial advantages of aortic valve repair over replacement, this will greatly benefit the Canadian healthcare system.