Clinical ECG mapping and imaging of cardiac electrical excitation

Combining electrocardiographic mapping and 3D+time anatomical data enables noninvasively the imaging of the electrical excitation sequence in the human heart. A bidomain-theory based surface heart model activation time imaging approach was employed to image single beat data of atrial and ventricular depolarisation. Activation time maps were reconstructed for three patients who underwent an electrophysiologic study. The sinus rhythm and a rhythm according to a pacing protocol were reconstructed for two patients. For the third patient the accessory pathway of the WPW syndrome was localized. For focal arrhythmias, this model-based imaging approach might allow the guidance and evaluation of antiarrhythmic interventions, for instance, in case of catheter ablation or drug therapy.