Computer Modeling of Congenital Heart Disease

This proposal is aimed at developing a novel method for modeling and analyzing clinical factors impacting RV function, which can lead to a more reliable, consistent, and comprehensive pre-operative treatment planning. In particular, the proposed work centers on the creation of an accurate and clinically useful heart model with which to quantify, visualize, and interpret several clinical findings that are central to the medical decision-making process. The hypothesis is that by providing clinicians with 3D models that capture numerous relevant patient findings in an integrated, quantitative manner they can make more consistent, reliable, and accurate clinical assessments and may also be able to predict factors complicit in RV dysfunction and impending failure.