Heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading causes of death, claiming 18.6 million lives per year.
In May 2012, world leaders committed to reduce global mortality from non-communicable diseases by 25% by 2025. Because cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts nearly half of these types of death, it’s critical to find innovative solutions to fight it. This is one of the reasons the World Heart Federation recognizes World Heart Day every September 29, along with the goal to inspire individuals, families, communities, and governments around the world to participate in activities to take charge of their heart health and that of others.
With today being World Heart Day, we want to highlight some of the innovations that Dassault Systèmes, our customers and partners are doing to combat the impact CVD has on our world.
Creating a fully functioning 3D model of the heart
Modeling the challenges of heart valve replacement
Dassault Systèmes software has proven highly capable of accurately simulating the methods and complexities of heart-disease treatment. Our solutions are helping FEops explore the application of their technologies to a wide range of heart-related fields, getting devices to market faster and helping patients everywhere. This includes their HEARTguide™ technology, which uses advanced computational modeling to provide clinicians and valve manufacturers with insights into the interaction between valve and specific patient anatomy. You can discover the full story here.
Monitoring diabetes
Diabetes and CVD often go hand in hand. And diabetes is on the rise: there are about 463 million adults are living with diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation. Worse, that number is predicted to rise to 700 million over the next 25 years. 
For 100 million or so severe diabetics, glucose monitoring devices have become a part of the daily routine. French startup PKvitality is trying to change their lives by helping them to be actively involved in monitoring their health and wellbeing. They’ve developed several innovative products to accomplish their vision, including the K’Watch, a wearable device that tracks glucose or lactose painlessly, accurately, and in real time.
PKvitality is supported by Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, through which they leverage the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to design and accelerate their medical devices. Learn more about their journey in through program, which also supports other heart-related projects including Dynocardia.
Helping treat children with heart defects
Imagine the benefits of a clinical team viewing a patient’s heart in a realistic 3D model before surgery. Now imagine if that surgery is being conducted on a child. This is what Claudio Capelli of University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital is passionate about: applying digital modeling to transform the approach to treating children with congenital heart conditions. Kids born with extremely complex and rare congenital heart conditions require personalized treatments. By creating highly realistic virtual models of these hearts, Capelli and team can predict and model the best treatment for each patient.
Funding for this project – called 3D CARE – is provided by a grant from La Fondation Dassault Systèmes, the cardiovascular engineering team at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science. You can discover more about what drives Capelli in a video below, and in a story in our Compass magazine.
Speeding fitness products to market
Compass also featured an article about the growing wellness industry and how sport manufacturers and suppliers are racing to create innovative products to support people wanting to improve their health. The piece looked at the role of simulation software like SIMULIA to quickly launch new products, before consumers move on to the next trend. The story included our customers such as Korean firm INNO Design, which helped develop a foldable e-bike with an innovative wheel and integrated battery and Bosch eBike Systems, whose smartphone-based solution transforms e-bikes into smart bikes and allows cyclists to augment their exercise with digital technology, providing a smart riding experience that can help users stick to their regimes.
