Explore the OrgansThe main cause of death in our part of the world is cardiovascular disease and the fastest growing cause of death is degenerative brain diseases. In this project, we hope to contribute to the health care fight against these diseases. The goal is to create image-based patient-specific models that explore organ function through simulation, enable breakthroughs in research on organ function and to use patient-specific functional organ models in the diagnostic workflow.
Focus on the Heart and Brain
In the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases anatomical measurement of arterial constriction may be supplemented with patient-specific estimates of the constriction effects on blood pressure and flow. Simulation and MRI Measurements of the three-dimensional blood flow provide a deeper insight into disease mechanisms in e.g. heart failure.
Diagnosis of degenerative brain diseases require the centers controlling brain functions, and the connections between them, to be localized. New MRI techniques can provide this information and also provide the basis for image-based measurement of disease severity in e.g. Alzheimer's disease.
This project focus on the heart and the brain since they are two of the most vital organs in the human body. Different types of functional imaging are progressively complementing the traditional imaging for both these organs, and there is strong medical motivation for accelerating this progress. The Seeing organ function project takes on the urgent task of developing new methods to capture, process and present this rich functional information.
MRI Techniques and Simulations
The project finances several Postdocs with different technical background, all working on parts of the research agenda. Here, CMIV provides the perfect environment for such a project as it brings together expertise ranging from medicine, over medical visualization to image analysis and biomedical engineering. All the research teams have worked together in multidisciplinary projects for a long time which is of great advantage.
Using image-based heart models it is now possible to simulate patient-specific blood flow in the heart with an incredibly high resolution. 3D visualization of the blood flow and the possibility for interaction provides completely new insights into the functionality of the heart.
Progress, can also be seen in the analysis of the electrical activity of brain cells fusing data of different types from various image sources or using novel mathematical models to reconstruct neuronal fibers from diffusion imaging data.