Tutorial 1: 11.00 am - 1.00 pm

INNOVATIVE METHODS FOR THE GENERATION AND VALIDATION OF MUSCULOSKELETAL MODELS

• Dr. Marco Viceconti, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy
• Dr. Fulvia Taddei, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy
• Prof. Luca Cristofolini, University of Bologna and Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli

The aim of this tutorial is to provide post-graduates, post-docs, and young researchers in general with an update on the most innovative methods to generate and validate predictive biomechanical models of the musculoskeletal system. The course will open with a rather philosophical introduction to models: the definition of a model, the role of models, and their strengths and limitations. In this context, new approaches such as multiscale, probabilistic, and personalised modelling will be introduced. In the second part of the course, these modelling methods will be described in detail, and their strengths and weaknesses and the role they can play in research and clinical practice will be illustrated through the use of some practical examples. In the final part of the course, the role of experimental measurements will be shown. The importance of model identification and validation will be stressed. An integrated experimental-numerical approach for exploiting the synergy between numerical models and in vitro experiments will also be presented.

Tutorial 2: 11.00 am - 1.00 pm

ARTERIAL MECHANICS

• Dr. Peter Hoskins, Medical Physics & Medical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Dr. Quan Long, Institute for Bioengineering, Brunel University, UK
• Prof. Bill Easson, School of Engineering and Electronics, University of Edinburgh, UK

This is an introductory tutorial on arterial mechanics with an emphasis on imaging and modelling of arterial disease. The first part of the course concerns wall shear stress (WSS), imaging, and image-guided modelling. Topics to be covered include velocity and pressure in the arterial system, reflected waves, WSS, imaging-based methods to estimate WSS and their limitations, the basic image-guided modelling processing chain, and examples of blood flow and WSS in health and disease. The second part of the course will concentrate on wall modelling and fluid-structure interactions (FSI). After an introduction to FSI, the following areas will be discussed: different forms of FSI (one-way coupled, two-way coupled), FSI in practice and its applications in atherosclerosis, single case and multiple case studies on the assessment of vulnerable plaque rupture risk, and technical issues such as constitutive models for artery, boundary conditions, pre-stretch, and residual stress. The third part of the course will focus on blood as a two-phase fluid and will cover the general principles of two-phase flow, forces on particles, experimental and computational modelling of two-phase flow, red-cell margination, monocyte dynamics, and examples of clinical use.

Tutorial 3: 2.00 pm - 4.00 pm

MEDICAL IMAGE ANALYSIS

• Dr. Julia A. Schnabel, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK

The aim of this tutorial is to provide an overview of medical image analysis and state-of-the art methods in image segmentation, registration, shape modelling, and validation methods. The course will open with a general introduction into medical image analysis, including image feature detection and filtering techniques. Image segmentation methods, including active contours and level sets, and suitable validation methods will then be introduced. In the second part of the course, motion models, in the context of nonlinear image registration, and their applicability for shape modelling and analysis will be presented. The synergy between image segmentation, registration, and shape modelling will be stressed, and the potential use of current state-of-the-art medical image analysis methods in biomechanical applications will be discussed.

Tutorial 4: 2.00 pm - 4.00 pm

MUSCLE MECHANICS

• Dr. Maarten F. Bobbert, Research Institute MOVE, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The aim of this tutorial is to give an introduction into muscle mechanics, the construction of models of muscle-tendon complexes, and the utilization of such models in, for example, forward simulation of movement. Various purposes for which researchers have developed muscle models and the types of models that are currently available in the literature will be addressed first. In human movement science, one common purpose is estimation of individual muscle forces from kinematics and electromyograms measured from subjects while they perform movements, and a second common purpose is simulation of movements with forward models of the musculoskeletal system. For both purposes, researchers mostly use Hill-type models, consisting of a contractile element in series with an elastic element. This course will therefore focus on the interaction between contractile elements and series elastic elements, on the modelling of this interaction, and on the incorporation of models of muscle-tendon complexes in models of the skeleton. After a brief coverage of the modelling of excitation dynamics and ways of obtaining parameter values for models of muscle-tendon complexes, examples of the estimation of individual muscle forces and simulation of movements with forward models of the musculoskeletal system will be presented.