Computational Modeling in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics

Mathematical and numerical modelling of engineering problems in medicine is aimed at unveiling and understanding multidisciplinary interactions and processes and providing insights useful to clinical care and technology advances for better medical equipment and systems. When modelling medical problems, the engineer is confronted with multidisciplinary problems of electromagnetism, heat and mass transfer, and structural mechanics with, possibly, different time and space scales, which may raise concerns in formulating consistent, solvable mathematical models.

Computational Medical Engineering presents a number of engineering for medicine problems that may be encountered in medical physics, procedures, diagnosis and monitoring techniques, including electrical activity of the heart, hemodynamic activity monitoring, magnetic drug targeting, bioheat models and thermography, RF and microwave hyperthermia, ablation, EMF dosimetry, and bioimpedance methods. The authors discuss the core approach methodology to pose and solve different problems of medical engineering, including essentials of mathematical modelling (e.g., criteria for well-posed problems); physics scaling (homogenization techniques); Constructal Law criteria in morphing shape and structure of systems with internal flows; computational domain construction (CAD and, or reconstruction techniques based on medical images); numerical modelling issues, and validation techniques used to ascertain numerical simulation results. In addition, new ideas and venues to investigate and understand finer scale models and merge them into continuous media medical physics are provided as case studies.

• Presents the fundamentals of mathematical and numerical modeling of engineering problems in medicine
• Discusses many of the most common modelling scenarios for Biomedical Engineering, including, electrical activity of the heart hemodynamic activity monitoring, magnetic drug targeting, bioheat models and thermography, RF and microwave hyperthermia, ablation, EMF dosimetry, and bioimpedance methods
• Includes discussion of the core approach methodology to pose and solve different problems of medical engineering, including essentials of mathematical modelling, physics scaling, Constructal Law criteria in morphing shape and structure of systems with internal flows, computational domain construction, numerical modelling issues, and validation techniques used to ascertain numerical simulation results

Alexandru M. Morega is professor of electrical engineering at the University Politehnica of Bucharest, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Bioengineering and Biotechnology, the Faculty of Medical Engineering. He received the Dipl. Eng. (1980), and the Doctoral (1987) degrees in EE from the same university, and the Ph.D. degree in ME (1993) from Duke University of Durham, North Carolina, USA. Alexandru Morega is founding member of the Laboratory for Electrical Engineering in Medicine (1998), at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and of the Department of Bioengineering and Biotechnology (2002) and the Faculty of Medical Engineering (2010), at the University Politehnica of Bucharest.

Mihaela Morega is professor of electrical engineering, with teaching and research responsibilities in applied electromagnetics, at University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romania, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology. She received the Dipl. Eng. and Doctoral degrees in EE, from the same university in 1980 and 1988, respectively. Her research interests and specializations include computer aided modelling of electrophysiological phenomena, characterization of the electromagnetic environment, interactions of electromagnetic field with the living matter for applications in biomedical engineering, numerical dosimetry and the study of specific processes in the electro-thermal and electro-mechanical energy conversion. She is currently engaged in promoting bioelectromagnetics as an educational and research topic in electrical engineering.

Alin A. Dobre is lecturer at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romania, since 2015. He was one of the research team members of the International Center of Biodynamics, Bucharest, between 2012 and 2015. He received his BSc and PhD from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 2009 and 2012, respectively, and his MSc from the Faculty of Medical Engineering in 2011, all from the same university. Medical image-based reconstruction of computational domains, numerical modelling and simulation of medical procedures, biosignal acquisition and processing, electrical machines and drives and computer networks are his main teaching and research interests. He was an IEEE and IEEE-EMBS student member from 2009 to 2012 and he is an IEEE and IEEE-EMBS member since 2015.