SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING AN ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY MAP

• US 20150038862A1
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Gijsbers, Gerardus Henricus Maria, Van Den Brink, Hendrikus Bernardus, Slegt, Sander, Nijhof, Niels
• Granted Patent: US 10,548,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/509
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2576/023 for the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/065 Determining position of the probe employing exclusively positioning means located on or in the probe, e.g. using position sensors arranged on the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/25 Bioelectric electrodes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/282 Holders for multiple electrodes for introduction into the body A61B5/287
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6805 Vests
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/684 Indicating the position of the sensor on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/00 Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment instruments measuring radiation intensity for application in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting, G01T1/161; apparatus for taking X-ray photographs G03B42/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4441 the rigid structure being a C-arm or U-arm
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0883 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4254 using sensors mounted on the probe
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for providing an electrical cardiac activity map by means of electrical signals acquired by a plurality of surface electrodes on an outer surface of a living being (6). A cardiac structure position determination unit (12) determines a position of a cardiac structure, in particular, of the epicardial surface, based on provided projection images, wherein an anatomical cardiac model is adapted to the projection images. The projection images may be provided by an x-ray C-arm system (2). An electrical activity map determination unit (13) determines the electrical activity map at the cardiac structure based on the electrical signals, the positions of the plurality of surface electrodes also determined from the projection images, and the determined position of the cardiac structure. This allows determining the electrical activity map at the cardiac structure with high accuracy, without necessarily needing, for instance, an x-ray computed tomography system that would apply a relatively high x-ray radiation dose to the living being. The electrodes may be comprised in a vest (8).

Claims

1. A system for providing an electrical activity map of the heart of a living being by means of electrical signals from the heart acquired by a plurality of surface electrodes on an outer surface of the living being, the system (1) comprising:

a projection images providing unit (2) for providing projection images of the heart and of the plurality of surface electrodes (9) in different directions,

a surface electrodes positions determination unit (11) for determining positions of the plurality of surface electrodes (9) based on the provided projection images,

a cardiac structure position determination unit (12) for determining a position of a cardiac structure of the living being based on the provided projection images, wherein the cardiac structure position determination unit (12) is adapted to adapt an anatomical cardiac model including the cardiac structure to the provided projection images of the heart, in order to determine the position of the cardiac structure,

an electrical activity map determination unit (13) for determining the electrical activity map at the cardiac structure based on the electrical signals measured on the outer surface of the living being (6), the determined positions of the plurality of surface electrodes (9) and the determined position of the cardiac structure.

2. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the surface electrodes positions determination unit (11) is adapted to provide a model distribution of the surface electrodes, to adapt the model distribution to the provided projection images and to determine the positions of the plurality of surface electrodes (9) from the adapted model distribution.

3. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the cardiac model is a non-specific cardiac model.

4. The system as defined in claim 3, wherein the cardiac structure position determination unit (12) is adapted to adapt the anatomical cardiac model including the cardiac structure to the provided projection images of the heart by performing at least one of a translation procedure, a rotation procedure and a scaling procedure.

5. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the projection image providing unit (2) is an x-ray C-arm system.

6. The system as defined in claim 5, wherein the x-ray C-arm system (2) is adapted to perform a single axis C-arm movement or a dual axes C-arm movement.

7. The system as defined in claim 5, wherein the x-ray C-arm system (2) is a monoplane projection system or a biplane projection system.

8. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the projection images providing unit (2) is a C-arc system for providing several two-dimensional x-ray projection images,

the surface electrodes positions determination unit (11) is adapted to determine the positions of the plurality of surface electrodes (9) by performing a three-dimensional position modelling based on the several two-dimensional x-ray projection images,

the cardiac structure position determination unit (12) is adapted to match a non-patient specific generalized three-dimensional cardiac model with a cardiac contour in selected two-dimensional x-ray projection images from the several two-dimensional x-ray projection images, and

the electrical activity map determination unit (13) is adapted to determine the electrical activity map by performing an electrocardiographic mapping on the surface of the matched generalized three-dimensional cardiac model.

10. A computer program for providing an electrical activity map of the heart of a living being by means of electrical signals from the heart acquired by a plurality of surface electrodes being arranged on an outer surface of the living being, the computer program comprising program code means for causing a system as defined in claim 1.

9. A method for providing an electrical activity map of the heart of a living being by means of electrical signals from the heart acquired by a plurality of surface electrodes on an outer surface of the living being, the method comprising:

providing projection images of the heart and of the plurality of surface electrodes in different directions by a projection images providing unit (2),

determining positions of the plurality of surface electrodes (9) based on the provided projection images by a surface electrodes positions determination unit (11),

determining a position of a cardiac structure of the living being based on the provided projection images by a cardiac structure position determination unit (12), wherein an anatomical cardiac model including the cardiac structure is adapted to the provided projection images of the heart, in order to determine the position of the cardiac structure,

determining the electrical activity map at the cardiac structure based on the electrical signals measured on the outer surface of the living being, the determined positions of the plurality of electrodes and the determined position of the cardiac structure by an electrical activity map determination unit (13).