Virtual Camera Tracking Cardiac Activation Waves
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical systems for cardiac arrhythmia treatment face challenges in efficiently visualizing the propagation of cardiac activation waves during procedures, leading to delays and inefficiencies as physicians wait for wave propagation to reach specific areas of the anatomical map, wasting valuable time during ablation decisions.
Innovation Solution
A medical system that uses a virtual camera to dynamically follow the progression of cardiac activation waves over anatomical maps, allowing real-time rendering and adjustment of the field of view, and enabling the selection of optimal paths for wave propagation visualization, thereby ensuring timely and accurate ablation targeting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a static anatomical map is displayed during cardiac ablation procedures, then the complete wave propagation path can be visualized, but the physician must wait for the wave to reach the area of interest, causing procedural delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by transitioning from a static anatomical map display to a dynamic virtual camera system that automatically follows the moving wavefront. The virtual camera continuously updates its position and orientation to track the propagating electrical wave, allowing the physician to observe wave propagation in real-time without waiting for the wave to naturally reach specific regions of interest.
2Ease of operation
If the field of view is fixed during wave propagation visualization, then the display system is simple, but the physician cannot efficiently monitor wave progression to specific target areas
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual camera system operates autonomously by automatically tracking the wavefront without requiring manual intervention from the physician. The system self-adjusts the field of view by computing the camera position and orientation based on the current wavefront location, effectively making the visualization system serve itself by adapting to the dynamic nature of wave propagation.
3Productivity
If manual navigation of the anatomical map is required, then the system is easier to implement, but valuable procedural time is lost as physicians manually search for wave propagation areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical manual navigation approach with an automated computational system. Instead of the physician manually panning and zooming through the anatomical map, the system uses algorithms to compute the wavefront position and automatically adjusts the virtual camera parameters, substituting manual mechanical interaction with automated computational control.
Data Source
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AI summary
In one embodiment, a medical system includes a catheter configured to be inserted into a chamber of a heart, and including electrodes configured to capture electrical activity of tissue of the chamber over time, a display, and processing circuitry configured to compute a propagation of a cardiac activation wave over an anatomical map of the chamber of the heart from a start time in a cardiac cycle to an end time in the cardiac cycle responsively to the captured electrical activity, and render to the display respective portions of the propagation of the cardiac activation wave over respective portions of the anatomical map as viewed from a virtual camera while manipulating the virtual camera to follow progression of the propagation of the cardiac activation wave over the anatomical map.