Detailed Anatomical and Electrophysiological Models of Human Atria and Torso for the Simulation of Atrial Activation
Atrial arrhythmias, and specifically atrial fibrillation (AF), induce rapid and irregular activation patterns that appear on the torso surface as abnormal P-waves in electrocardiograms and body surface potential maps (BSPM). In recent years both P-waves and the BSPM have been used to identify the mechanisms underlying AF, such as localizing ectopic foci or high-frequency rotors. However, the relationship between the activation of the different areas of the atria and the characteristics of the BSPM and P-wave signals are still far from being completely understood. In this work we developed a multi-scale framework, which combines a highly-detailed 3D atrial model and a torso model to study th…
Non-invasive localization of atrial ectopic beats by using simulated body surface P-wave integral maps
Non-invasive localization of continuous atrial ectopic beats remains a cornerstone for the treatment of atrial arrhythmias. The lack of accurate tools to guide electrophysiologists leads to an increase in the recurrence rate of ablation procedures. Existing approaches are based on the analysis of the P-waves main characteristics and the forward body surface potential maps (BSPMs) or on the inverse estimation of the electric activity of the heart from those BSPMs. These methods have not provided an efficient and systematic tool to localize ectopic triggers. In this work, we propose the use of machine learning techniques to spatially cluster and classify ectopic atrial foci into clearly diffe…
Atrial Fibrosis Hampers Non-invasive Localization of Atrial Ectopic Foci From Multi-Electrode Signals: A 3D Simulation Study
[EN] Introduction: Focal atrial tachycardia is commonly treated by radio frequency ablation with an acceptable long-term success. Although the location of ectopic foci tends to appear in specific hot-spots, they can be located virtually in any atrial region. Multi-electrode surface ECG systems allow acquiring dense body surface potential maps (BSPM) for non-invasive therapy planning of cardiac arrhythmia. However, the activation of the atria could be affected by fibrosis and therefore biomarkers based on BSPM need to take these effects into account. We aim to analyze the effect of fibrosis on a BSPM derived index, and its potential application to predict the location of ectopic foci in the …