Clinical application of electrocardiographic computer model

A three-dimensional computer model was developed to stimulate the ventricular depolarization and repolarization in a clinical setting. The ventricle is composed of approximately 50,000 units arranged in a cubic close-packed structure and the specialized conduction system is distributed so as to obtain the excitation sequence resembling normal ventricular depolarization. The normal distribution of action potential waveforms with the longest duration on the endocardium and the shortest on the epicardium is used in the model. The heart model is mounted in a homogeneous torso model, and the body surface potential distribution generated by the electric dipoles is calculated using the boundary element method. The QRST waveforms corresponding to the normal and some abnormal heart conditions, such as bundle branch block, myocardial infarction, apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, is obtained by assuming the abnormal area with altered electrical properties. Thus the three-dimensional computer model may provide further insight into the genesis of the clinical electrocardiogram.