High-fidelity model of the human heart: An immersed boundary implementation

Computer simulations of cardiovascular flows can be key to improving the predicting capabilities of standard diagnostic tools, to refine surgical techniques and perform virtual tests of innovative prosthetic devices. The reliability of simulations, however, depends on the fidelity level of the model, which, for the heart, involves the interconnected multi-physics dynamics of the various systems: the human heart is among the most complex organs, and simulating its dynamics is an ambitious undertaking from both the modeling and computational viewpoints. In this paper we present a multiphysics computational model of the human heart accounting simultaneously for the electrophysiology, the elastomechanics, and the hemodynamics, including their multiway coupled interactions referred to as fluid-structure-electro interaction (FSEI). The developed tool embodies accuracy, versatility, and computational efficiency, thus allowing cardiovascular simulations of physiologic and pathologic configurations within a time to solution compatible with the clinical practice and without resorting to large-scale supercomputers. Results are shown for healthy conditions and for myocardial infarction with the aim of assessing the reliability of the model and proving its predicting capabilities, which could be used to anticipate the outcome of surgical procedures or support clinical decisions.