Author: Laura Martínez

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…

research product

Analysis of in-silico body surface P-wave integral maps show important differences depending on the connections between coronary sinus and left atrium

The electrical connections between the atrial coronary sinus (CS) and the left atrial (LA) myocardium have an effect on the overall atrial activation pattern and the P-wave morphology. In this study, we use our validated multi-scale 3D human atrial-torso model to elucidate which electro-anatomical configuration of connections between CS and LA more accurately reproduces a set of body surface P-wave integral maps (BSPiM) acquired in the clinic. We performed atrial biophysical simulations by pacing in distal and proximal LA sites. The corresponding in-silico BSPiM were then computed and compared with published clinical patterns obtained from patients. Important differences in BSPiM were obser…

research product

Shine bright or live long: substituent effects in [Cu(N^N)(P^P)]+-based light-emitting electrochemical cells where N^N is a 6-substituted 2,2'-bipyridine

We report [Cu(P^P)(N^N)][PF6] complexes with P^P = bis(2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)ether (POP) or 4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-9,9-dimethylxanthene (xantphos) and N^N = 6-methyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Mebpy), 6-ethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Etbpy), 6,6′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Me2bpy) or 6-phenyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Phbpy). The crystal structures of [Cu(POP)(Phbpy)][PF6]·Et2O, [Cu(POP)(Etbpy)][PF6]·Et2O, [Cu(xantphos)(Me2bpy)][PF6], [Cu(xantphos)(Mebpy)][PF6]·CH2Cl2·0.4Et2O, [Cu(xantphos)(Etbpy)][PF6]·CH2Cl2·1.5H2O and [Cu(xantphos)(Phbpy)][PF6] are described; each copper(I) centre is distorted tetrahedral. In the crystallographically determined structures, the N^N domain in [Cu(xantphos)(Phbpy)]+ and [Cu(…

research product

Ventricular Tachycardia and Early Fibrillation in Patients With Brugada Syndrome and Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Show Predictable Frequency-Phase Properties on the Precordial ECG Consistent With the Respective Arrhythmogenic Substrate

[EN] Background¿ Ventricular fibrillation (VF) has been proposed to be maintained by localized high-frequency sources. We tested whether spectral-phase analysis of the precordial ECG enabled identification of periodic activation patterns generated by such sources. Methods and Results¿Precordial ECGs were recorded from 15 ischemic cardiomyopathy and 15 Brugada syndrome (type 1 ECG) patients during induced VF and analyzed in the frequency-phase domain. Despite temporal variability, induced VF episodes lasting 19.6±7.9 s displayed distinctly high power at a common frequency (shared frequency, 5.7±1.1 Hz) in all leads about half of the time. In patients with Brugada syndrome, phase analysis of …

research product

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…

research product

Factors affecting basket catheter detection of real and phantom rotors in the atria: A computational study

[EN] Anatomically based procedures to ablate atrial fibrillation (AF) are often successful in terminating paroxysmal AF. However, the ability to terminate persistent AF remains disappointing. New mechanistic approaches use multiple-electrode basket catheter mapping to localize and target AF drivers in the form of rotors but significant concerns remain about their accuracy. We aimed to evaluate how electrode-endocardium distance, far-field sources and inter-electrode distance affect the accuracy of localizing rotors. Sustained rotor activation of the atria was simulated numerically and mapped using a virtual basket catheter with varying electrode densities placed at different positions withi…

research product