Living Heart Project Enters Next Phase with AI-Powered Virtual Twins

Dassault Systèmes reports that a beta test is underway to evaluate a new generation of the Living Heart model that can be customized for individual patients or patient populations. The test aims to deliver configuration and automation that makes the model a resource to simplify medical device research and development, and accelerate the testing and regulatory approval of new treatments, according to the company.

Members of the Living Heart Project are testing the creation of customized models that offer the ability to adjust tissue properties, structural variations and other aspects at the touch of a button. This new generation builds upon the project’s years of experience with real patients, its insight into human physiology enables it to create thousands of virtual patient twins and be used as a training set for generative AI. Researchers and clinicians can understand a disease and how a patient population will react to a given treatment, without using humans or animals, and without privacy or profile constraints.

“A decade ago, the Living Heart Project made history by introducing the first virtual twin of a human heart. Today, we make another giant leap forward with the next generation - a fully parametric, customizable whole-heart simulation, enabling medical device companies to design, test and validate innovations faster and with greater confidence. Powered by our 3DEXPERIENCE platform, this breakthrough will help our customers reduce development costs, accelerate regulatory approval, and transform their ability to predict how devices will integrate with real-world patient anatomy, empowering precision medicine at scale,” says Claire Biot, vice president, Life Sciences & Healthcare Industry, Dassault Systèmes.

The beta test of the new generation Living Heart model follows the release of the “ENRICHMENT Playbook,” a guide for the medical device industry that outlines how to use virtual twins to accelerate clinical trials, published after the successful completion of a 5-year collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.