Patient-specific models have been recently applied to investigate a wide range of cardiovascular problems, including cardiac mechanics, hemodynamic conditions, and structural interaction with devices [1]. The development of dedicated computational tools, which combined the advances in the field of image elaboration, finite element (FE), and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analyses, has greatly supported not only the understanding of human physiology and pathology but also the improvement of specific interventions by taking into account realistic conditions [2,3]. However, the translation of these technologies into clinical applications is still a major challenge for the engineering modeling community [4].
Over the last decade, our engineering group, which is part of the Cardiorespiratory Unit in the main UK children hospital, has been involved in the development of patient-specific models to support the development of the percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation (PPVI) procedure [5,6]....
