Computational Modeling in Objective Assessment of Cardiovascular Function and Patient-Specific Clinical Management
Radomir Chabiniok - Heart Center, Children’s Health, Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
March 20, 2026, 2:30 p.m. - March 20, 2026, 3:30 p.m.
ENGMD 280
Hosted by: Kaleem Siddiqi
Translational cardiovascular modeling (TCM) combines clinical data – such as data acquired by imaging methods (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, echocardiography), electrophysiology data (e.g., ECG, invasive heart potentials) or blood pressures (non-invasive cuff measurements, invasive measurements during heart catheterization) –with physiologically and biophysically based models of the heart, vessels or circulation. Such patient-specific models subsequently aim to contribute to diagnosis or optimal clinical management [1]. TCM intrinsically leads to collaborative projects between imaging, image processing, computational modeling labs and clinical departments. In this seminar, several advancements will be presented and various existing challenges discussed. After introducing some basic concepts of cardiovascular anatomy, physiology and clinical imaging, selected exemplary applications will be presented: objective assessment of the cardiovascular function in the patients with heart failure [2], and in the patients prior to intervention in heart valvular disease [3] (as examples of model-augmented functional assessment). Secondly, model-based predictions will be demonstrated on the outcome of cardiac resychronization therapy (CRT) [4] and of the pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) [5] for the patients with chronic heart failure, or pulmonary valve insufficiency, respectively.
Bibliography:
[1] R. Chabiniok et al.: Multiphysics and multiscale modelling, data-model fusion and integration of organ physiology in the clinic: ventricular cardiac mechanics, Interface Focus, 2016.
[2] B. Ruijsink et al.: Dobutamine stress testing in patients with Fontan circulation augmented by biomechanical modeling, PLOS ONE, 2020.
[3] M. Gusseva et al.: Biomechanical Modeling to Inform Pulmonary Valve Replacement in Tetralogy of Fallot Patients after Complete Repair. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 2021.
[4] M. Sermesant et al., Patient-specific electromechanical models of the heart for the prediction of pacing acute effects in CRT: A preliminary clinical validation. Medical Image Analysis, 2012.
[5] M. Gusseva et al.: Prediction of ventricular mechanics after pulmonary valve replacement in tetralogy of Fallot by biomechanical modeling: A step towards precision healthcare. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2021.
With my dual-background (MD and applied mathematics) and experience in cardiovascular magnetic resonance particularly for congenital heart diseases, I devoted myself to the translation of cardiovascular modeling into the clinic. This intrinsically multi-disciplinary goal can only be achieved in tight collaborations between teams of cardiovascular clinicians; mathematical and biomechanical modelers; and researchers in advanced data acquisition and processing. This explains my professional trajectory and major collaborations: MRI department of Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM Prague, Czech Republic); Departments of Mathematics at Czech Technical University and at Charles University in Prague; French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria); St Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College London, UK. Since 2021 I have been a research faculty member at University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center Dallas (UTSW) in the department of Pediatrics and a faculty member of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program. Since 2023, I serve as a Co-Chair of the Heart Center Research Facilitation Committee (Pediatric Cardiology and Cardio-thoracic Surgery Divisions, UTSW and Children’s Medical Center Dallas). In 2025 I was the Lead organizer of the 13th edition of international conference Functional Imaging and Modeling of the Heart (FIMH 2025, taking place in the medical environment of UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas). Such a unique multi-disciplinary positioning allows me to contribute to decreasing the gap between the sophisticated biophysical models (either existing or under active development) and their actual clinical application.
