Methods and apparatus of three dimensional cardiac electrophysiological imaging

• US 7,841,986 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2007
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regents of The University of Minnesota (University of Minnesota)
• Original Assignee: Regents of The University of Minnesota (University of Minnesota)
• Inventors: Liu, Chenguang, Liu, Zhongming, He, Bin
• Primary Examiner(s): Layno; Carl H
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, YUN H
• Application Number:
  US11/747,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20070270703A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 600/508, 600/509
• US Class Current: 600/508
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00839 Bioelectrical parameters, e.g. ECG, EEG
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0044 for the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/287 Holders for multiple electrodes, e.g. electrode catheters for electrophysiological study [EPS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5247 combining images from an ionising-radiation diagnostic technique and a non-ionising radiation diagnostic technique, e.g. X-ray and ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0883 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/22 Source localisation; Inverse modelling

Abstract

Generating a three-dimensional representation of cardiac electrical activity within a subject'"'"'s heart includes collecting, from a catheter having a distal portion that includes sensors that sense electrical activity and which catheter distal portion is positioned within a cardiac chamber of a subject, data for electrical activity sensed by the catheter distal portion while positioned within the chamber of the heart. The method also includes executing an imaging algorithm on the collected electrical activity data to generate a three-dimensional representation of cardiac electrical activity within a volume of the subject including all or a portion of the subject'"'"'s heart. The method further includes displaying the imaged three-dimensional cardiac electrical activity.

Claims

1. A method of generating a three-dimensional representation of cardiac electrical activity for a subject, the method comprising:

providing a three-dimensional cardiac model comprising a structure of a heart and finite elements on which cardiac electrophysiological properties are considered;

recording, from a catheter having a distal portion comprising multiple electrodes, sensed intra-cardiac electrical potential data for electrical activity sensed by the multiple electrodes while the catheter distal portion is positioned within one or more chambers of the subject'"'"'s heart;

using the recorded intra-cardiac electrical potential data to estimate a value for an electrophysiological property for each of various finite elements throughout the three-dimensional cardiac model; and

generating on a visual display device, and using the calculated values for the electrophysiological property for the various finite elements, a visual representation of estimated cardiac electrical activity for the subject.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electrophysiological property is a source model that predicts cardiac electrical activity, and estimates the calculated values for the electrophysiological property by minimizing a difference between the catheter recorded intra-cardiac electrical potential data and the source model predicted cardiac electrical activity.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the source model is a heart biophysical model comprising three-dimensional equivalent source representations, including one or more of current density, transmembrane potential, local field potential, activation time, and repolarization time.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the three-dimensional equivalent source representations include estimated equivalent current density representations, and wherein the method further comprises deriving a repolarization dispersion from the estimated equivalent current density representations to aid in diagnosis and management of cardiovascular diseases.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated cardiac electrical activity comprises cardiac activation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated cardiac electrical activity comprises cardiac repolarization.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated visual representation of the estimated cardiac electrical activity is used to guide ablation of cardiac arrhythmias.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated visual representation of the estimated cardiac electrical activity is used to guide catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated visual representation of the estimated cardiac electrical activity is used to guide cardiac synchronized therapy.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual representation of the estimated cardiac electrical activity includes representations of cardiac electrical activity both within the three-dimensional volume of the heart and over a surface of the heart.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the electrophysiological property is an activation time during a cardiac cycle.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the activation time is a time at which an excitation wavefront would initially appear at the corresponding finite element of the three-dimensional cardiac model.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the activation time is a time at which current density would reach a maximum at the corresponding finite element of the three-dimensional cardiac model.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional cardiac model comprises a structural image provided by imaging the heart of the subject from whom the cardiac electrical activity data are collected.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the catheter comprises electrodes that are located on deployable arms that when deployed extend away from a central body portion of the catheter distal portion such that the electrodes are positionable from the central body portion, occupying a three-dimensional volume within the intra-cavity.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the catheter comprises electrodes that are configured on the catheter distal portion so that when the catheter distal portion is positioned within a cardiac chamber, each of the electrodes is exposed on substantially all of its sides.

17. A system for generating a three-dimensional representation of cardiac electrical activity for a subject, the system comprising:

a three-dimensional cardiac model comprising a structure of a heart and finite elements on which cardiac electrophysiological properties are considered;

a catheter having a distal portion comprising multiple electrodes adapted to record intra-cardiac electrical potential data for intra-cardiac electrical activity sensed by the multiple electrodes while the catheter distal portion is positioned within one or more chambers of the subject'"'"'s heart;

an amplifying and processing unit that amplifies and filters the sensed intra-cardiac electrical potential data by the catheter;

a computation unit adapted to process the recorded intra-cardiac electrical potential data to calculate a value for an electrophysiological property for each of various finite elements throughout the three-dimensional cardiac model; and

a displaying unit adapted to generate and display, using the calculated values for the electrophysiological property for the various finite elements, a visual representation of estimated cardiac electrical activity for the subject.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the computation unit performs computations to estimate the calculated values for the electrophysiological property by minimizing the difference between the recorded intra-cardiac electrical potential data and a heart source model predicted electrical activity data at the same locations of the electrodes of the catheter.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the visual representation of the estimated cardiac electrical activity for the subject is used to guide ablation of cardiac arrhythmias.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the visual representation of the estimated cardiac electrical activity for the subject is used to guide catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the visual representation of the estimated electrical activity for the subject is used to guide cardiac synchronized therapy.

22. A method of generating a three-dimensional representation of cardiac electrical activity for a subject, the method comprising:

providing a three-dimensional cardiac model comprising a structure of a heart and finite elements on which cardiac electrophysiological properties are considered;

collecting, from a catheter having a distal portion comprising multiple electrodes, data for electrical activity sensed by the multiple electrodes while the catheter distal portion while is positioned within one or more chambers of the subject'"'"'s heart;

collecting, from an electrode array positioned on the subject'"'"'s body surface, data for electrical activity sensed by the body surface electrode array taken during a time period during which the electrical activity data recorded by the catheter are sensed; and

using both the electrical activity data collected using the catheter and the electrical activity data collected using the body surface electrode array to calculate a value for an electrophysiological property for each of the various finite elements throughout the three-dimensional cardiac model; and

generating on a visual display device, and using the calculated values for the electrophysiological property for the various finite elements, a visual representation of estimated cardiac activity data for the subject.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the estimated cardiac electrical activity comprises cardiac activation.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the estimated cardiac electrical activity comprises cardiac repolarization.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the visual representation of estimated cardiac activity data for the subject is used to guide ablation of cardiac arrhythmias.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the visual representation of estimated cardiac activity data for the subject is used to guide cardiac synchronized therapy.