Mapping of atrial epicardium electrical activity during atrial fibrillation based on signals from the torso: a clinical-computational study

• Grant number: 20/13017-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering - Bioengineering
• Principal Investigator: João Loures Salinet Júnior
• Grantee: Gabriel Victor Costa
• Host Institution: Centro de Engenharia, Modelagem e Ciências Sociais Aplicadas (CECS). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice, affecting 1 to 2% of the world population. Invasive electrophysiological studies, in which cardiac electrograms are measured directly in the atria using mapping catheters, are the most direct approach to identify regions that maintain AF. However, this strategy is technically complex, requiring a large amount of time and resources and with risks for patients, motivating the development of non-invasive methods, such as body surface potential mapping and Noninvasive Electrocardiographic Imaging (ECGI). The ECGI is a medical tool that allows estimating the electrical activity in the epicardium (or endocardium) of the atria through the potentials obtained around the surface of the torso, projecting them in bi and / or three-dimensional maps of the atria. The objective of this project is to validate a method of estimating and mapping the electrical potentials in the atria from the torso signals and the 3D geometries of the atria and torso. Realistic computational models of AF and patients with AF will be used. The signals estimated in the atrium will be compared with those made available by mathematical models and measured in patients with AF, using Pearson's correlation. Isopotential maps will be generated with the estimated potentials and compared with those available by the models and measured in patients, with the Pearson's 2D correlation. Thus, validating a method of estimating the signs in the atrium during AF from the torso and three-dimensional (3D) geometries of the torso and atria, would contribute to highlight the importance noninvasive methods for diffusion in the clinic.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SALINET, JOAO; MOLERO, RUBEN; SCHLINDWEIN, FERNANDO S.; KAREL, JOEL; RODRIGO, MIGUEL; LUIS ROJO-ALVAREZ, JOSE; BERENFELD, OMER; CLIMENT, ANDREU M.; ZENGER, BRIAN; VANHEUSDEN, FREDERIQUE; et al. Electrocardiographic Imaging for Atrial Fibrillation: A Perspective From Computer Models and Animal Experiments to Clinical Value. FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY, v. 12, APR 30 2021. (20/12841-3, 18/25606-2, 20/13017-2)