Systems, devices, components and methods for detecting the locations of sources of cardiac rhythm disorders in a patient's heart and generating an estimate or probability of the patient being free from atrial fibrillation

A method of generating an estimate or probability of a patient being free from atrial fibrillation (AF) so that an appropriate ablation therapy can be delivered to the patient, the method employing at least one computing device comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store instructions executable by at least one processor to determine the source and location of the atrial fibrillation in the patient's heart, the computing device being operably connected to a display or monitor, the method comprising:

• (a) receiving electrogram signals acquired from electrodes located inside the patient's heart;
• (b) using the computing device, assigning positions of the electrodes on a mapping electrode assembly employed to acquire the electrogram signals to their corresponding electrogram signals;
• (c) using the computing device, providing or generating a map, representation, or data set of the electrode positions;
• (d) using the computing device, processing the electrogram signals to generate a plurality of at least one of interpolated, fitted, smoothed and estimated three-dimensional electrogram surfaces for discrete times of the electrogram signals corresponding at least partially to the map, representation, or data set;
• (e) using the computing device, processing the plurality of three-dimensional electrogram surfaces through time using optical flow analysis and estimation techniques to generate at least one electrographical flow (EGF) map, representation, pattern, or data set;
• (f) using the computing device, processing the at least one EGF map, representation, pattern, or data set to determine at least two of source activity levels, flow angle variability (FAV) levels, and active fractionation (AFR) levels corresponding thereto;
• (g) using the computing device, determining and generating, on the basis of a combination of the determined at least two of source activity levels, FAV levels, and AFR levels, an electrographical volatility index (EVI) representative of the estimate or probability of the patient being free from AF;
• (h) presenting at least one of the EVI and the estimate or probability of the patient being free from AF on a display, monitor, or printer to one or more users, and
• (i) on the basis of the estimate or probability the one or more users determine whether to deliver an ablation therapy to the patient.