Noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging allows for the reconstruction of cardiac electrical activity from body-surface ECGs and patient-specific torso-heart geometry, though further clinical validation is needed.
Electrocardiographic imaging has the potential to be a powerful clinical tool for diagnosis, therapy guidance, and risk stratification, but requires careful interpretation of model assumptions and more extensive validation.
Electrical activity at the level of the heart muscle can be noninvasively reconstructed from body-surface electrocardiograms (ECGs) and patient-specific torso-heart geometry. This modality, coined electrocardiographic imaging, could fill the gap between the noninvasive (low-resolution) 12-lead ECG and invasive (high-resolution) electrophysiology studies. Much progress has been made to establish electrocardiographic imaging, and clinical studies appear with increasing frequency. However, many assumptions and model choices are involved in its execution, and only limited validation has been performed. In this article, we will discuss the technical details, clinical applications and current limitations of commonly used methods in electrocardiographic imaging. It is important for clinicians to realise the influence of certain assumptions and model choices for correct and careful interpretation of the results. This, in combination with more extensive validation, will allow for exploitation of the full potential of noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging as a powerful clinical tool to expedite diagnosis, guide therapy and improve risk stratification.
Cluitmans et al. (Mon,) conducted a review in Cardiac arrhythmias. Noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) was evaluated. Noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging allows for the reconstruction of cardiac electrical activity from body-surface ECGs and patient-specific torso-heart geometry, though further clinical validation is needed.