The simulated representation of the dialysis unit at the Saint-Louis Hospital was designed to visualise and predict different scenarios in which viral particles could circulate through the air. Credit: Shutterstock / WHYFRAME

French engineering firm Dassault Systèmes has created a virtual twin of a Parisian dialysis ward in a bid to better understand how respiratory infections travel across hospitals.

The simulated representation of the dialysis unit at the Saint-Louis Hospital was designed to visualise and predict different scenarios in which viral particles could circulate through the air in the dialysis unit in hopes of preparing staff to deal with outbreaks as they occur.

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Dassault Systèmes used its 3DEXPERIENCE platform to create a 3D scan of the room made on-site, as well as building blueprints to create the virtual twin. Researchers would then simulate the transmission of respiratory and viral particles based on different scenarios involving ventilation, the locations of medical equipment and patients in the space, mask-wearing, breathing and airflow rates.

GlobalData forecasts that the metaverse, including digital twin technology, could be worth $627bn in 2030.

Claire Biot, vice president of life sciences and healthcare industry at Dassault Systèmes, said: “Virtual twins are poised to transform daily patient care and infection prevention in the coming years. We’ve already completed projects with a number of major hospitals that successfully demonstrated how our virtual twin technology can help identify and optimize safety measures.

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“Our long-standing partnership with Saint-Louis Hospital allows them to access these technologies without having to invest in them upfront or develop new IT capabilities in-house. It also boosts the hospital as a leading health provider and encourages broader transformation across the sector to enhance patient outcomes.”

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In September 2023, Dassault Systèmes launched Emma, a digital twin of a physical person designed using anonymous health data with the express purpose of conducting an infinite number of tests to glean more insight into various diseases and therapies.

Elsewhere in the field of virtual twin technology, the UK-based Leeds University spin-out Adsilico has raised £3.5m ($4.4m) in seed funding to develop an artificial intelligence-assisted modelling system designed to run virtual clinical trials on a simulated set of populations.

Guillaume Mellon, head of the infection prevention and control team at Saint-Louis Hospital, said: “Dassault Systèmes had already worked on projects at other hospitals in Paris and understood our mission to offer the highest level of care. Its solutions allowed us to visualize the production of respiratory particles, follow their trajectory, and see how they could spread from patient to patient.”