A Comparison of Finite Element and Integral Equation Formulations for the Calculation of Electrocardiographic Potentials

This paper is a comparison of the major methodologies utilized in computer simulations of electrocardiographic potential calculations. Two integral equation methods (Green's theorem and the equivalent single layer) and finite element methods are compared for forward and inverse solutions. The results suggest that the differences in accuracy between the two integral equation formulations are small. However, the use of a basic finite element formulation improves the accuracy over that obtainable with integral equations, and the improvement in accuracy is particularly notable for inverse estimation.