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Vol.36 Apr. 2010
Heart Simulator ～where computer science meets medical science ～
Heart Simulator, which Prof.Hisada (Computational Scientist) and Prof.Sugiura
(Medical Scientist) engage in their researches, is an influential project
which will change the way the patients are treated.
Although the two professors belong to the Department of Human and Engineered
Environmental Studies, they are also working with private companies and
hospitals to promote the practical applications of this research in about
2 or 3 years. Here is an interview of the two professors.
Q : First, please introduce your research.
Prof.Hisada : We have created a virtual human heart using computer technology which
shows the same physical characteristics and chemical compositions as real
one. It is called the “Heart Simulator”.
Our research is to simulate how phenomena such as ion migration, chemical
reaction models involving proteins, heartbeat, blood pumping and etc...
affect blood pressure and cardiogram.
Prof.Sugiura : This system offers graphical outputs to doctors and they can judge immediately
what part of the heart is bad. This will lead to more correct and immediate
treatments.
Moreover, we can use this simulator in circumstances where we cannot experiment on real hearts. It can be used as substitutes for animal experiments and to check whether new medical devices are suitable or not. It can also be used to test new medicines.
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Prof.Hisada Toshiaki
Prof.Sugiura Seiryou
Department of Human and Engineered Environmental Studies
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences |
"We can try many kinds of treatments directly on the computer to
find the most effective one."
Q : Using Heart Simulator, how will medical treatment change in the future?
Prof.Hisada : My expectation in the future is the followings: the doctors, who are in charge of diagnosing and treating the patients, can send patients' data such as cardiogram, MRI, CT, blood inspection etc. to a simulation center. The next day, after the simulation of the patients’ heart is done, we can try many kinds of treatments directly on the computer to find the most effective one. This way, patients can receive the best treatment. This system also offers new techniques for diagnosis and treatments beyond conventional ways, such as in the cases requiring complex surgeries with high risks of failure and prediction of sudden death.
In addition, it can be applied for development of medical devices and
medicines. In fact, it has contributed to the development of Implantable
Cardioverter Defibrillator which was the first to be developed in Japan.
Despite these advantages, the biggest drawback of this method is limitation in computational power. In order to simulate a virtual heart, a large number of calculations is needed. About 7 to 8 hours are required to properly simulate one patient’s heart, even though we have used a computer cluster in Kashiwa Campus, which is equivalent to a supercomputer with 300-core CPU. Therefore, we aim to optimize this simulation further in the next 2 or 3 years before it can be more practical. |
Both figures are the virtual hearts displayed on Heart Simulator. Top :
Normal one. Chamber can contract and eject blood strongly( red arrow ).
Bottom : A heart suffered from cardiac infarction. As blood vessel is choked,
chamber cannot receive enough oxygen( brown area ). So its ejection of
blood becomes weaker.(green arrow)
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Prof.Sugiura : As medical devices have become more sophisticated, we also have accesses to more information. But in clinical field, it has been a problem how to make use of such information effectively. So we aim at making Heart Simulator easy to use for both hospitals and companies. For example, when we click certain parts of the display, it will zoom in the images in that local region.
Q.Please tell me about your backgrounds.
Prof.Hisada : I graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering majoring in
Continuum Mechanics. Continuum Mechanics is one branch of Physics which
analyze the motion of fluids and characteristics of solids. Before engaging
in developing Heart Simulator, I mainly researched on applications such
as safety of nuclear reactors and rockets.
In the research of Heart Simulator, knowledge from many other fields
of science such as structural mechanics, fluid dynamics, electronic chemistry…etc.
is needed. Hence, it is a really challenging topic.
Prof.Sugiura : I was working as a cardiovascular doctor in Univ. Tokyo Hospital, but
at the same time, I have been doing many researches. Before taking part
in this project, most of my researches have been small ones such as studying
protein molecules and cells which form human hearts.
In many scientific fields, it has been said that many researchers are
too much into details, making it difficult for them to see the bigger picture.
It’s not an exception for the medical field. It has been a recommended
practice to consult other experts when we confront a problem outside of
the field we specialize in. But in order to simulate a virtual heart using
computers, a thorough understanding of a human heart is required. This
one time, I received questions asking about the working principles from
a professor in the engineering department but I could not answer him satisfactorily.
I realized that my understanding of human hearts was not enough and started
to study again. "Heart Simulator is in the field where knowledge of computer science is especially useful."
Q : Why did you two come up with an idea of making a heart simulator?
Prof.Hisada : About 8 years ago, I got the chance to talk with Prof. Sugiura who had
been a doctor majoring in heart diagnosis and treatments. From that point
on, I became interested in making simulators and we two started to research
in the same laboratory.
By the way, Heart Simulator is in the field where knowledge of computer
science is especially useful. For other medical researches such as researches
on the liver functions, it is sufficient to simulate only the chemical
reactions.
Prof.Sugiura : Liver shape is not so important because its main function is to serve
as an environment where chemical reactions can take place. Heart, on the
other hand, has its main function of pumping blood, and hence its shape
is very important.
In clinical field, demands and requests for Heart Simulator have become
greater and greater. In recent years, although it has become possible to
analyze the patients’ problems at the genome level, it is still difficult
to clarify through experiments how certain problems influence phenomena
such as cardiogram and blood pressure.
The gap between these two is expected to be bridged by Heart Simulator.
Q : Please give messages to readers.
Prof.Hisada : Student time is short, so it’s difficult to engage in the real frontier
researches. Rather, I would recommend you all to study basic fields well
and accumulate knowledge and abilities which will be useful in the future.
Last year, I told a senior student in my laboratory to study basics of fluid dynamics and structural mechanics. On the opposite, I knew a certain student who spent most of his time trying to understand basic theories and principles, but as a result, he won the Minister Prize from the Engineering Faculty for his research.
Prof.Sugiura : Researchers who specialized in many fields have to be careful not to have the knowledge of any field diminish. As there is a trend in researches, we tend to be conservative if we are not careful. So I hope everyone to study well and master one field rather than touching many fields but having no specialization in any of the fields.
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