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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
Optical Mapping of Action Potentials and Calcium Transients in the Mouse Heart
Published on: September 13, 2011
Simultaneous mapping of activation and motion timing in the healthy and chronically ischemic heart
Hanno U Klemm1, Rodolfo Ventura, Olaf Franzen
1Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. h.klemm@uke.uni-hamburg.de
Background:
Experimental data of simultaneous acquired activation and motion (AM) propagation from human subjects are not available.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a novel mapping technique allowing combined analysis of AM timing in vivo and to delineate the influence of chronically ischemic tissue on cardiac AM propagation.
Methods:
Ten patients with remote myocardial infarction and 4 control patients were studied during sinus rhythm using electroanatomic mapping (CARTO). Maps of the left ventricle were obtained via the retrograde aortic approach. Real-time catheter positions were extracted using custom-made software. Catheter motion was analyzed along a static line connecting the catheter tip with the apex. Tissue Doppler measurements in all patients provided data for validation.
Results:
Four shapes of catheter motion curves were identified and correlated to healthy tissue with variable degrees of preloading, scar tissue and dyskinetic regions, e.g. aneurysms. An analysis of the AM-delay revealed areas of delayed activation in 7, and slow motion onset in 4 patients. Tissue Doppler data correlated well with local onset of motion (correlation coefficient 0,99).
Conclusion:
Activation delays as well as long AM-intervals that can be differentiated with the described mapping technique are responsible for asynchronous contraction in the ischemic heart. Myocardial wall motion abnormalities can be derived from catheter motion curves.
