Comparing measured and simulated wave directions in the left atrium - a workflow for model personalization and...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Computational Cardiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Atrial arrhythmias are common and treated with catheter ablation.
• Current catheter ablation success rates are moderate.
• Personalized simulation models could enhance treatment efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a workflow for creating personalized atrial electrophysiology (EP) simulation models.
• To utilize routine clinical data (CT scans, electrograms) for model generation.
• To assess the accuracy of these personalized models in simulating cardiac electrical activity.

Main Methods:

• Anatomical models were generated from CT scans using automatic segmentation.
• Individual conduction velocities were calculated from intracardiac electrograms.
• Subject-specific EP models were created and used to simulate pacing maneuvers.

Main Results:

• Simulations accurately reproduced normal sinus rhythm and pacing from a coronary sinus catheter.
• Quantitative analysis showed an average difference of 15° (8%) in wave directions.
• Conduction velocities differed by an average of 16 cm/s (17%) between simulations and clinical data.

Conclusions:

• The developed workflow enables the creation of personalized EP simulation models from routine clinical data.
• These models demonstrate good accuracy in simulating atrial electrical activity.
• Personalized simulations have the potential to improve treatment planning and success rates for atrial arrhythmias.