Milestone #15 successfully achieved through patient-specific modeling of tissue-engineered heart valves in young patients

In the SimInSitu Project, a patient-specific model of the pulmonary vessel, obtained from pediatric patients, was developed. This model was then virtually repaired using the tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV) designed by Xeltis, a project partner. We identified a cohort of ten pediatric patients with congenital heart valve diseases and segmented their pulmonary vessels. Subsequently, the TEHV developed in WP03 was integrated into the native pulmonary vessel using a CAD tool, allowing precise positioning just distal to the pulmonary valve. Following this, an in-silico model was developed to simulate the cardiac beat through finite-element analysis and perform a fluid-solid interaction (FSI) analysis of the virtually repaired pulmonary vessel with the TEHV. The FSI model underwent numerical verification in accordance with the SimInSitu masterplan that is related to the ASME VV40 standard. This achievement underscores the rigorous collaboration among SimInSitu partners, encompassing TEHV fabrication, device material characterization and modeling, clinical data collection, and patient-specific modeling and FSI simulations.