Cardiac Lead Placement Using Multiple Spatially Distributed Sensors

A system for facilitating placement of a lead in or on a patient's heart, comprising:

• a first lead apparatus configured for positioning a reference sensor at a right heart location;
• a second lead apparatus configured to advance a cardiac electrode to a left heart site of the patient's heart, the second lead apparatus comprising at least one lead apparatus sensor;
• a user interface;
• and
• a processor coupled to the user interface, the reference sensor, and the lead apparatus sensor, the processor configured to measure, using signals produced by the reference and lead apparatus sensors, a distance parameter indicative of a distance between the reference and lead apparatus sensors at each of a plurality of left heart locations and to determine strain or stress estimates for the plurality of left heart locations derived from the distance parameters, the processor configured to cooperate with the user interface to produce a physician perceivable output indicating suitability of the left heart locations as pacing sites using the strain or stress estimates.