System and method for characterization of electrical properties of the heart from medical images and body surface potentials

An apparatus for estimating patient-specific cardiac electrical properties from medical image data and non-invasive body surface potential measurements of a patient, comprising:

• means for generating a volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model and a patient-specific anatomical torso model from medical image data of a patient and an electrical coupling model between the patient-specific anatomical heart model and the patient-specific anatomical torso model;
• means for estimating extra-cellular potentials on an epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model from measured body surface potentials on a torso of the patient based on the electrical coupling model between the patient-specific anatomical heart model and the patient-specific anatomical torso model and estimating transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model from the estimated extra-cellular potentials;
• and
• means for estimating spatially varying patient-specific cardiac electrical parameters for the patient, comprising:
• means for initializing one or more cardiac electrical parameters of a computational cardiac electrophysiology model over the volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model from the estimated transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model;
• means for simulating cardiac electrophysiology over time at a plurality of nodes in the volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model using the computational cardiac electrophysiology model, and
• means for adjusting the one or more cardiac electrical parameters of the computational cardiac electrophysiology model over the volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model based on the estimated transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model, and simulated transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model resulting from simulating the cardiac electrophysiology.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program instructions for estimating patient-specific cardiac electrical properties from medical image data and non-invasive body surface potential measurements of a patient, the computer program instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• generating a volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model and a patient-specific anatomical torso model from medical image data of a patient and an electrical coupling model between the patient-specific anatomical heart model and the patient-specific anatomical torso model;
• estimating extra-cellular potentials on an epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model from measured body surface potentials on a torso of the patient based on the electrical coupling model between the patient-specific anatomical heart model and the patient-specific anatomical torso model and estimating transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model from the estimated extra-cellular potentials;
• and
• estimating spatially varying patient-specific cardiac electrical parameters for the patient by:
• initializing one or more cardiac electrical parameters of a computational cardiac electrophysiology model over the volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model from the estimated transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model;
• simulating cardiac electrophysiology over time at a plurality of nodes in the volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model using the computational cardiac electrophysiology model, and
• adjusting the one or more cardiac electrical parameters of the computational cardiac electrophysiology model over the volumetric patient-specific anatomical heart model based on the estimated transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model, and simulated transmembrane potentials on the epicardial surface of the patient-specific anatomical heart model resulting from simulating the cardiac electrophysiology.