Digital twins: a technological revolution for customized treatment

Digital transformation Research Decoding
Published on 4 February 2025
The concept of the digital twin, which originated in aeronautical engineering to design and simulate complex models, is now revolutionizing the medical field. The Digital Health seminar of the Institut des Transformations Numériques (ITN) of Mines Paris – PSL, held on September 19, 2024 on the School’s Paris campus, brought together experts to explore digital advances in healthcare and define strategic priorities. By recreating precise, personalized digital representations of the human body, the digital twin offers healthcare professionals an unprecedented means of understanding, diagnosing and treating complex pathologies.
The CURE project, led by Elie Hachem, Director of the Centre de Mise en Forme des Matériaux (CEMEF) and Professor at Mines Paris – PSL, embodies this breakthrough. With funding from his ERC “Consolidator”, he is creating digital twins to assess the risk of rupture of intracranial aneurysms and guide medical decisions. This project, at the crossroads of fluid mechanics and AI, shows how digital technology and simulation can meet the vital challenges of tomorrow’s medicine.

The digital twin: a precision model in the service of health

Conceived in the 2000s for the design of the Boeing 777 aircraft, the digital twin has become a benchmark in the simulation and analysis of complex systems. Today, it has established itself in the medical sector as an invaluable tool for reproducing patient-specific physiological environments. By accurately and dynamically modeling parts of the human body, this technology enables doctors to better understand certain pathologies and assess potential risks and treatments.

The CURE (Controlling Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms) project, led by Elie Hachem, is a prime example of this digital health revolution. Winner of a prestigious ERC “Consolidator” grant, CURE aims to prevent ruptured cerebral aneurysms through a unique combination of blood flow simulation and machine learning.

Intracranial aneurysms: risks and medical challenges

Intracranial aneurysms (IAs) are abnormal dilatations of the walls of cerebral arteries. In Europe, around 3% of the adult population is affected by this pathology, often detected by chance during medical examinations. Each year, the rupture of an aneurysm leads to the death of 500,000 people worldwide, the vast majority of whom are under the age of 50. Doctors face a complex decision when identifying an aneurysm: whether to operate preventively or opt for regular monitoring. This decision, crucial to the patient’s life, relies on risk assessment, an area where the digital twin is proving to be a major ally.

Digital simulation and AI: an aid to medical decision-making

The CURE project uses high-fidelity digital simulations to model the blood flow inside a patient-specific aneurysm, creating a digital twin of the pathology. Using data provided by the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Neurology at Munich’s Ludwig-Maximilian University, and Nice University Hospital, the project combines fluid mechanics simulations with AI to predict the risk of rupture of each aneurysm. In the event of an intervention decision, the digital twin also helps to define the optimal nature of the surgery to be performed.

This dynamic modeling is based on a series of anonymized biomedical data, and opens up new prospects for personalized medicine. “Our simulation methods enable us to provide doctors with precise elements of risk and to assess the necessity of surgery,” explains Elie Hachem. Ultimately, the project aims to transform the management of aneurysms into a safer process, tailored to each patient in near-real time.

ERC funding for pioneering research

With an ERC “Consolidator” grant of around two million euros, Elie Hachem has been able to put together a multidisciplinary research team comprising HPC experts, fluid mechanics specialists and healthcare professionals, to develop this innovation. This strategic funding is an important milestone in the expansion of medical applications for the digital twin, and confirms the position of the Institut des Transformations Numériques (ITN) at Mines Paris – PSL as a leader in technological innovation for healthcare.

By combining supercomputing and AI, CURE represents a significant advance towards personalized treatment of intracranial aneurysms, illustrating ITN’s ability to deploy cutting-edge technologies in the service of healthcare.


ITN: developing innovative projects for the new wave of digital transformation

Created in March 2024, the Mines Paris – PSL ITN is positioned as a central player in the digital transition, mobilizing the expertise of its 18 research centers. With strategic focus areas such as digital health, digital engineering and cultural industries, the ITN federates knowledge to meet the economic, social and technological challenges of our time. Driven by a responsible and collaborative approach, it aims to accelerate innovation and guide public and private players in this transformation.

A seminar to meet the challenges of digital health

The Santé Numérique seminar brought together researchers, industrialists and decision-makers to discuss the major challenges of digitizing healthcare. In a world where technological advances are redefining medical practices, digital health is emerging as a lever for meeting the current and future challenges facing the healthcare system. ITN explores these transformations through various themes: the reinvention of hospital infrastructures, the development of digital twins for precision medicine, and the integration of artificial intelligence at all levels of healthcare. These issues are not limited to technological innovation, but also question the social, economic and ethical dimensions of connected, intelligent medicine, paving the way for more personalized, accessible and predictive care.

Also to be discovered