MeDiTATe, the Medical Digital Twin for Aneurysm Prevention and Treatment
The project will deliver a comprehensive framework of simulation and imaging technologies, targeted at industrial and clinical-translation to accelerate the process of personalised cardiovascular medical procedure, validated through an integrated experimental programme to ultimately improve patient care.
The core idea of MeDiTATe is therefore to develop a Digital Twin and to make it available as “a service” for all in academia, hospital and industry. In particular, the project aims at:
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a transition from the well-known expertise specific of “traditional” engineering into a real clinical environment
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ensuring the collaboration between research/academic organizations with industries to investigate cutting-edge issues for Research & Development in the aneurysms prevention and treatment by means of Digital Twin approach;
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providing 14 Early Stage Researchers with an enviable skills mix, making them attractive to both academia and industry, preparing them for a competitive employment market and individually balancing technical and complementary skills training.
To achieve those goals, the following techniques are integrated in MeDiTATe:
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clinical and imaging data;
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Computer-aided Engineering (CAE) multi-physics simulation with Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) mesh morphing, Finite Element Method (FEM), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI), inverse FEM;
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Real time interaction with the Digital Twin by Augmented Reality, Haptic Devices and Reduced Order Models (ROM);
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High Performance Computing (HPC tools, including Graphic Processing Units (GPUs)), and cloud-based paradigms for fast and automated CAE processing of clinical database;
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Big Data management for population of patients imaging data and high-fidelity CAE twins;
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Additive Manufacturing of physical mock-up for surgical planning and training.
The strength of the MeDiTATe lies within the multidisciplinary aspect given by the intense collaboration among different technical experts in the field of engineering, clinics, academics and industry. Additional activities will be promoted inside the project:
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specialist Feedback, delivered directly by the clinical and industrial sectors to the single Early Stage Researcher through an organic and comprehensive programme;
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organisation of Network Conferences to improve the diffusion of partial and final results of the project and to define further objectives and goals;
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organisation of a journal Special Issue to disseminate peer-reviewed Early Stage Researchers’ outcomes.