Modeling and Simulation in Biomedical Engineering: Applications in Cardiorespiratory Physiology

This book is written by a professional engineer who is unique in that he seems to have a natural understanding of 3 key areas as follows: the hardware involved with simulators, human physiology, and mathematical modeling. Willem van Meurs is one of the inventors of the model-driven human patient simulator (HPS), and so, he is very qualified to write this book. His experience in both working with a simulator manufacturer during many years as well as setting up and teaching biomedical engineering classes at the University of Porto has given him vast experience to draw on. The book is written in a clear way, using the first person throughout, in a conversational manner, with a style that involves posing questions and answering them in subsequent text. Some readers may find this approach unusual, but it is accessible. There are simple black and white line diagrams and useful tables, where appropriate, illustrating the text. The book covers nearly 190 pages with 12 chapters and is very well referenced. The book gives much of the background to the development of the cardiorespiratory mathematical models in the HPS, some of which is already published (by the author), but a lot of material has been commercially sensitive and therefore out of the public domain. The book is therefore probably unique in bringing this area of modeling and simulation together. The book starts with a very useful introduction and background chapter, setting out the scene for the rest of the book. This section gives the reader some useful revision on their knowledge of signals, systems, modeling, and simulation. The section starts simply but soon brings in more advanced concepts. The book is then divided into 3 discrete sections. The first section, (chapters 2Y6) gives some theory to simulators and modeling. Each chapter ends with review problems, extensive references, and further reading. The problems could be used for teaching purposes, and it seems likely that they have been used as a stand-alone project for teaching. The 5 chapters break simulation and modeling into 5 manageable steps: requirements, conceptual models, mathematical models, software implementation, as well as simulation results and validation. The first of these chapters gives a good start to the modeling process, and this is illustrated well with figures of actual software interfaces. There is a practical feel to the text. The next chapter deals with conceptual models and presents a considerable jump in complexity. Readers may need to read the proceeding chapter quite a few times to understand it. The mathematical model chapter is long with more details but is a complex readVit is very mathematical, but it does present electrical and mechanical analog models in a very accessible helpful and clear way. The final 2 chapters are shorter and straightforward, with many clear flow diagrams and algorithms presented. The second section covers 4 chapters where the theory presented in the first part is put into practice. There is a framework of a basic set of deterministic, continuous time models for the cardiorespiratory system. These models represent a simplified version of the cardiorespiratory models used in the HPS. This section is referenced but much less than in part 1, and there are no review sections. The book has comprehensive mathematical equations throughout, but they are presented in a clear, sequenced manner and, after careful reading, are reasonably understood. The book ends with a more advanced section of 2 chapters covering sensitivity analysis and setting model requirements as part of an encompassing simulation and simulator design. The target audience are those studying or working in biomedical engineering, not only engineers, physicists, and applied mathematicians but also biologists, physiologists, and clinicians. However, the book could be very useful for clinical educators, simulator technical directors, and simulation technicians. The book is not designed for complete beginners in the area, and readers without good mathematical skills might find it difficult to grasp. The required background knowledge is not deep but rather broad and includes basic knowledge of cardiorespiratory physiology, fluid dynamics, the kinetic theory of gases, differential equations, and some basic programming skills. However, the book is gentle in taking the reader deeper into the subject and gives useful extra readings to bring the more novice reader up to the required standard. I have had the pleasure of knowing the author since 1996, when he had the honor of introducing the first model-driven HPS, to a UK audience, at a special lecture at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London. He then was pivotal, in 1997, in helping introduce the simulator into the Bristol Medical Simulation Centre, which was the first simulation center in the UK. I have got to know Willem well during the years since then and have always been hugely impressed by his passion and understanding of engineering principles, human physiology, control theory, and mathematical modeling. I have used his book in enhancing my own talks and understanding human patient simulation and can strongly recommend it.