The software uses a three-dimensional representation of each artery that is more than one millimeter wide. The human circulatory system was used as a prototype, after being “scanned” thoroughly before with tomographic and magnetic imaging.
The researchers, led by Amanda Randles of Duke University in North Carolina, made the announcement at a conference of the American Physical Society in Baltimore, according to the BBC. The simulation software is called “Harvey”, as a tribute to the British doctor William Harvey who in the 17th century first discovered the circular circulation of blood in the body.
The super computer where the software “runs”, is from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and is one of the ten most powerful in the world. The aim of the simulation is to first study the effects that interventions (eg “balloon”) may have on a patient’s cardiovascular system, allowing physicians to have a better picture of hemodynamics.
In later stages, scientists plan to enrich Harvey with simulated tiny capillaries and even predict the movement of individual blood cells.
If that were to happen, then something that now sounds like science fiction could become a reality: simulating and predicting the evolution of individual cancer cells in the blood.
But such a thing will require supercomputers at least 1,000 times more powerful than today.
Source: http://www.iatrikanea.gr/2016/19281/#ixzz43WZL21pQ
