In GEMINI we follow the definitions as used in the coordination action EDITH. EDITH is an EU funded coordinated action with the mission of defining a roadmap to go from separated single organ systems, to data-driven and knowledge-driven fully integrated multiscale and multiorgan whole-body twin: A Virtual Human Twin (VHT). In EDITH the VHT is a patient-specific virtual representation of real-world systems or processes, that is built on data-driven or knowledge-driven – most often a combination of both – predictive computer models, and that can be used as a clinical decision-support system, a personal health forecasting tool or as a tool for the development and personalisation of medical products. As such, the DTH (Digital Twin in Healthcare) is defined as a computer simulation to support decision-making within a specific context of use in healthcare.
A DTH can be (1) generic: predicted value is within the range of the values measured experimentally in a reference population, (2) population-specific: predicted value is sufficiently close to some central property (e.g., mean, median) of the range of the values measured experimentally in a reference population, or (3) subject-specific: predicted value is sufficiently close to the value measured experimentally in each individual in the reference population. We will discuss these three in the submenu Clinical applications.
In GEMINI we have several research objectives, one aimed at the development of DTH in stroke, where we focus on generating mechanistic computational models. Then several others, based on the clinical applications of these mechanistic models, such as population-based ischaemic stroke DTHs, population-based haemorrhagic stroke DTHs, subject-specific DTH and finally, proof of concept studies. These will all be explained in the different submenus.
Lastly, another important part of GEMINI is also implementation of a project-wide structured approach for data harmonisation, sharing, model validation, verification, and for model certification of the computational models, including software
development, and a special focus of the project is on social sciences and humanities (SSH), and ethical aspects of the use of a DTH in acute life-threatening situations of stroke to ensure its effective implementation and uptake and acceptance of our DTH tools by clinicians and patients. In the different submenus we discuss our research objectives in more detail.