Electrocardiographic imaging: non-invasive identification of functionally abnormal electrophysiologic substrate

The electrical properties of infarcted myocardium are reflected only in a gross way in the body surface ECG through features such as the Q-wave. Electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) is a new method for noninvasive reconstruction of epicardial potential maps and electrograms (EGMs) from body surface potential measurements. In this study, a model using measured in vivo epicardial potentials and a realistic torso and epicardial geometry was used to evaluate the ability of ECGI to non-invasively reconstruct key electrophysiologic properties of infarcted hearts. Important electrophysiologic properties such as a large negative region in the epicardial potential map and deep negative Q-waves on the EGMs were reconstructed over the infarcted region. The results demonstrate the ability of ECGI to non-invasively reconstruct key properties of electrically abnormal tissue associated with an infarct.