SIMR is a 4-years research project (2020-2024) funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

With 600 operations per year, mitral regurgitation is the second leading cause of valve surgery in France. Repair is preferred to replacement whenever possible. Echocardiography is the most common tool to study the mitral valve, the consequences of its lesions and to assess the surgery results. Nevertheless, this imaging modality is sometimes insufficient to determine the optimal timing for surgery, identify the best surgical strategy and predict early failures after surgical repairs. New quantitative assessment tools are hence needed to understand the objectives consequences of MVr.

The SIMR project aims to contribute to this major public health problem, with the following two objectives:

1. Evaluate the physical consequences of mitral repair using new tools used in a clinical study. Tissue remodeling and ventricular flow will be measured using advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques, and chordae tension will be measured using an innovative device.
2. Design numerical tools for the simulation of cardiac hemodynamics, blood-valve interaction and myocardial biomechanics, in order to provide the in silico counterpart of data obtained by in vivo measurements and imaging. Data assimilation techniques will be used to estimate the cardiac contractility.