Correlating Endocardial and Epicardial Electrical Maps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for evaluating and treating cardiac arrhythmias face challenges in accurately mapping electrical potentials within the heart, particularly in correlating non-invasive body surface ECG data with invasive endocardial measurements, which limits the effectiveness of ablation therapy and follow-up assessments.
Innovation Solution
The method involves acquiring both invasive endocardial and non-invasive epicardial electrical maps using a catheter system and body surface ECG, registering these maps through anatomical and electrical features to establish a correlation, allowing for the generation of patient-specific spatiotemporal maps and enabling non-invasive validation of treatment outcomes by projecting changes in epicardial maps onto endocardial maps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If invasive endocardial mapping is performed to achieve high measurement precision, then mapping accuracy is improved, but patient risk and procedure complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines invasive endocardial mapping data with non-invasive body surface ECG data to create a comprehensive cardiac electrical map. This merging allows the system to achieve high measurement precision from the invasive procedure while using the non-invasive data to reduce the need for repeated invasive procedures, thereby reducing patient risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs invasive endocardial mapping as a preliminary procedure to establish a reference map and registration framework. Once this preliminary invasive mapping is complete and registered with body surface ECG data, subsequent monitoring and treatment follow-up can be performed non-invasively, reducing patient risk while maintaining measurement precision.
2Reliability
If repeated invasive endocardial mapping is performed to validate treatment outcomes, then measurement reliability is improved, but patient exposure to invasive procedures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the endocardial electrical map by registering body surface ECG data with the initial invasive endocardial map. This virtual endocardial map can be repeatedly updated and used for treatment validation without requiring repeated invasive procedures, thereby maintaining reliability while reducing patient exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses body surface ECG data as an intermediary to transfer information from the non-invasive external measurements to the invasive internal map. This intermediary allows treatment outcomes to be validated by comparing pre- and post-treatment body surface ECG data through the established registration, eliminating the need for repeated invasive procedures.
3Loss of information
If comprehensive electrical mapping of both endocardial and epicardial surfaces is performed, then mapping completeness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by using non-invasive body surface ECG data to infer and validate epicardial electrical activity, rather than requiring direct invasive measurement of both endocardial and epicardial surfaces. This inversion reduces device complexity while maintaining mapping completeness through the registration framework.
4Loss of information
If multiple receiving points are used to improve measurement coverage, then data comprehensiveness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the receiving points universal by using body surface ECG electrodes that can detect electrical activity from multiple cardiac regions through volume conduction. These same electrodes serve multiple functions: initial mapping, treatment validation, and ongoing monitoring, thereby improving data comprehensiveness without increasing system complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A reliable endocardial map is obtained by constructing a matrix relationship between a small number of endocardial points and a large number of external receiving points using a multi-electrode chest panel. Inversion of the matrix yields information allowing the endocardial map to be constructed. Subsequent maps are obtained noninvasively using the multi-electrode chest panel, applying new electrical signals to the matrix relationship, and again inverting the matrix to generate new endocardial electrical maps.