Question: Can you tell me more about the virtual heart?

Marta Varela answered on 8 Mar 2017:

Of course!

I have a model of the heart in my computer. I take the shape from CT or MRI scans of a person. (Let me know if you would like me to explain how I do this!) I then run a simulation of the electrical circuits in the heart. It looks very much like a computer game. If everything goes well, the heart’s natural pacemaker starts an electrical wave, which then propagates throughout the whole heart and makes it contract to pump blood.

If there are problems, the electrical wave can go back on itself and form this tornado-like spirals. The spiral waves can break into little spirals and create a complete mess of the electrical activation, making the heart contract arrhythmically and ineffectively.

I can change the properties of the heart in my computer (like how well ithe different parts of it conduct electricity) to see whether that helps or worsens the disease. I can even change the heart’s properties in the same way that drugs would and again see if that would cure the arrhythmias or not. It’s pretty cool!