# Living Heart Model

High-fidelity cardiac digital twin for in silico clinical trials. Simulate heart-device interaction to accelerate innovation, reduce costs, and improve safety.

Living Heart Model for In Silico Clinical Trials

The **SIMULIA Living Heart Human Model** brings the human heart to life as a high-fidelity, multiphysics digital twin, capturing the full complexity of its four-chamber anatomy and motion.

As a validated **cardiac digital twin**, it integrates structural mechanics, electrical activation, and physiological motion to reproduce realistic electromechanical behavior. This enables accurate virtual evaluation of cardiovascular devices, including valves, stents, and defibrillators, under physiologically relevant conditions.

By supporting predictive in silico testing while **reducing reliance on physical prototypes and animal studies**, this approach accelerates innovation, lowers development costs, and improves confidence in device safety and effectiveness.

(SIMULIA LS LIVING HEART MODEL HIGHLIGHT) Advancing Cardiovascular Science with a Validated Digital Twin

The Living Heart Model provides a powerful platform for **medical device simulation**, allowing engineers to model cardiac defects and diseased states, explore treatment options, and assess cardiovascular devices such as pacemakers, artificial valves, and vascular implants.

Devices can be evaluated under realistic physiological conditions to:

- Understand device interaction with heart tissue
- Predict performance across cardiac cycles
- Identify potential risks early in development
- Reduce reliance on animal and bench testing

[Cardiac Device](/media/24446)

Key Benefits of the Living Heart Model

Accelerate Cardiac Insight

 ![](https://www.3ds.com/assets/invest/2023-06/icon-227-check-focus.png)

Advance Disease Exploration

 ![](https://www.3ds.com/assets/invest/2021-12/icon-249-test-tubes.png)

Maximize Device Performance

 ![](https://www.3ds.com/assets/invest/2023-07/icon-222-business-operations.png)

Elevate Clinical Decisions

 ![](https://www.3ds.com/assets/invest/2020-05/icon-407-stakeholders-innovation.png)

SIMULIA Living Heart Model Key Features

(SIMULIA Living Heart Model Key Feature 1) Customizable Geometry

The CAD geometry is created natively in CATIA, allowing for high customizability through uniform scaling, parameter and manual morphing. It is based on new medical images of an average healthy male, with compliant geometry thereby facilitating extensions for CFD/FSI simulations.

(SIMULIA Living Heart Model Key Feature 2) Optimized FEM

Mesh quality and element selection have been optimized for improved performance. Myocardial tissue calibration and pericardial effects are enhanced for better fidelity, along with flexible methodologies for customizing fiber orientations. An adaptable model for simulating blood flow is implemented.

Validated Cardiac Response

The model response aligns with broader set of demographic metrics, with a direct procedure for pre-loaded heart geometry and improved valve morphology, particularly for the tricuspid valve. A new Purkinje network and electrical calibration generate accurate electrical activation and six-channel ECG.

(SIMULIA Living Heart Model Key Feature 4) Streamlined Process

Enhanced support for model definition through **3D**EXPERIENCE reduces keyword edits, while a comprehensive user guide and expanded training materials (including those on geometry adaptation) improve usability. Grid job submission is supported on advanced hardware without core limits.

Living Heart Model Use Cases for Medical Device Simulation

Mitral Regurgitation Treatment Through 3D Modeling

Explore a groundbreaking study utilizing advanced 3D modeling to evaluate a novel annuloplasty ring for mitral regurgitation correction. This simulation integrates electro-mechanical and fluid dynamics, offering precise insights into heart valve function and treatment efficacy.

[Mitral](/media/24370)

Advanced 3D Simulations for Pacemaker Innovation

Discover how advanced 3D simulations are transforming pacemaker lead evaluation. From insertion to curvature dynamics, explore groundbreaking insights into cardiac device performance.

[Pacemaker](/media/24445)

Cardiovascular Stent Simulation and Cardiac Cycle Simulation

Explore advanced simulations evaluating stent deployment, durability, and fatigue under cardiac cycles. From precise 3D modeling to Goodman fatigue analysis, these studies reveal critical insights into stent performance and safety.

[Stent](/media/24444)

What is the Living Heart Project?

The Living Heart Project is a collaborative initiative led by Dassault Systèmes to develop and validate a realistic virtual model of the human heart. It brings together medical device companies, researchers, and clinicians to advance in silico testing and simulation-driven innovation. The project supports faster development, improved device validation, and the adoption of simulation in cardiovascular research and clinical applications.

The Living Heart Model was developed within the Living Heart Project, a translational initiative to advance the use of simulation in the delivery of safe and effective cardiovascular devices and clinical treatments.

[Living Heart Model](/media/24456)

[Learn about the project](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0997753814000564)

## Start Your Journey

Explore the technological advancements, innovative methodologies, and evolving industry demands that are reshaping the world of Cardiac Digital Twin Simulation.

FAQs about Living Heart Model

What is the SIMULIA Living Heart Model?

The SIMULIA Living Heart Model is a validated multiphysics simulation of the human heart that accurately reproduces cardiac anatomy, electromechanical behavior, and physiological motion. It serves as a cardiac digital twin for predictive simulation and virtual device evaluation.

Who uses the Living Heart Model?

The model is used by medical device manufacturers, biomedical researchers, regulatory agencies, and academic institutions to accelerate cardiovascular innovation and improve clinical outcomes.

How is the Living Heart Model used for medical device simulation?

Engineers use the model to simulate medical devices such as pacemakers, stents, valves, and defibrillators. It helps assess device durability, deployment behavior, and functional impact under realistic cardiac conditions.

How does the Living Heart Model enable in silico clinical trials?

The model allows medical devices to be evaluated across simulated patient conditions using realistic physiological environments. This enables in silico clinical trials by predicting device safety, performance, and interaction with cardiac tissue before physical trials.

What are the benefits of in silico testing using the Living Heart Model?

In silico testing enables faster design validation, reduces development costs, minimizes reliance on animal testing, and improves confidence in device safety and performance.

What simulation capabilities does the Living Heart Model include?

The model integrates multiphysics simulation software, including structural mechanics, electromechanical simulation, and FSI simulation to accurately represent heart motion, electrical activity, and blood flow interaction.

Can the Living Heart Model support regulatory submissions?

Yes. The Living Heart Model is developed under the Living Heart Project and is widely used to generate simulation evidence supporting device development, validation, and regulatory evaluation.

What are the key applications of the Living Heart Model?

- Leadless Pacemaker In-Vivo Performance
- Coronary Stent In-Vivo Durability
- In-Vivo Performance
- Mitral Annuloplasty Ring In vivo Performance
- [Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) Stent In-Vivo Performance](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10237-020-01304-9)
- [Mitral Clip In-Vivo Performance](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-52342-y)

To explore the concept of digital twins and Living Heart Project in greater depth, refer to the following articles.

[Digital Twin for Healthcare and Lifesciences](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-21343-4_32)
Johnson, P. et al. (2023). Digital Twin for Healthcare and Lifesciences. In: Crespi, N., Drobot, A.T., Minerva, R. (eds) The Digital Twin. Springer, Cham.

[Dassault Systèmes’ Living Heart Project](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-88892-3_25)
Levine, S., Battisti, T., Butz, B., D’Souza, K., Costabal, F.S., Peirlinck, M. (2022). Dassault Systèmes’ Living Heart Project. In: Butera, G., Schievano, S., Biglino, G., McElhinney, D.B. (eds) Modelling Congenital Heart Disease. Springer, Cham.

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