Doppler-based non-invasive computational diagnostic method for personalized cardiology

A Doppler-based non-invasive method for determining dynamic behavior of an aortic valve of a subject, the aortic valve having multiple asymmetric valve leaflets and the method comprising:

• receiving Doppler echocardiography images of the subject;
• processing the received images to reconstruct a 3D geometry of the valve leaflets;
• determining transient pressure boundary conditions for the valve leaflets using a lumped parameter model specific to the subject;
• performing a first finite element simulation to determine one or more geometrical parameters for the valve leaflets, wherein the first finite element simulation is based on the reconstructed 3D geometry of the valve leaflets, the determined transient boundary conditions and an initial value of one or more anisotropic stiffness material parameters of the valve leaflets of the aortic valve;
• iteratively calibrating the initial value of the one or more anisotropic stiffness material parameters for the subject by comparing the one or more geometrical parameters determined in each iteration with a measured geometrical parameter the one or more geometrical parameters in each iteration determined by further performing the first finite element simulation based on i) the reconstructed 3D geometry of the valve leaflets, ii) the transient boundary conditions determined using the lumped parameter model specific to the subject, and iii) iterative value(s) of the one or more anisotropic stiffness material parameters for the subject;
• and
• performing a second finite element simulation, based on the calibrated one or more anisotropic stiffness material parameters, to determine an indicator of the dynamic behavior of the aortic valve.