Providing Computational Insights into Cardiac Xenotransplantation

Introduction

We are at the dawn of a new age in medicine, marked by the first pig-to-human heart transplant. Xenotransplantation has long been a dream for clinicians and now, due to rapid progress in gene editing, is becoming a reality.

Challenges in Xenotransplantation

To overcome immediate rejection, barriers of immunity and infection have to be addressed. However, achieving long-term success requires a deep understanding of the physiological and mechanical challenges introduced by the anatomically dissimilar xenotransplants.

Objectives of XENOSIM

XENOSIM aims to address these challenges by providing fundamental clinical insights into the nascent field of cardiac xenotransplantation through the development and application of novel high-resolution, higher-order, multiphysics simulation methods.

Current Limitations

Tremendous progress has been made in biomedical imaging; nonetheless, a multitude of physical phenomena relevant to xenotransplantation are not available for experimental observation. In silico studies are uniquely placed to provide insights into the haemodynamic disruption caused by replacing a human heart with an anatomically dissimilar one.

Development of Porcine Cardiac Xenotransplant Models

XENOSIM is targeting the establishment of the first family of porcine cardiac xenotransplant models that can provide clinically significant insights into:

1. The haemodynamic compatibility of porcine donor hearts
2. The impact of surgical approach
3. The consequence of pathologies

To provide these novel insights requires new coupled simulation approaches.

New Simulation Methods

Accordingly, the second goal of XENOSIM is to create a new class of monolithic finite volume fluid-electro-solid interaction methods, which can provide predictions in clinically relevant timescales through the exploitation of hybrid CPU-GPU systems.

Impact of XENOSIM

XENOSIM will establish the new field of computational cardiac xenotransplantation. Furthermore, the novel numerical methods established by XENOSIM are expected to impact a broad range of fields well beyond the project end.