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Three-dimensional Models for Cardiac Bioelectricity Simulation: Cell to Organ

Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Texas at Arlington TX 76016, USA heng{at}uta.edu

Li Shen

Center for Neuroimaging, Dept. of Radiology Center for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, IN 46202

Nha Nguyen

Department of Electrical Engineering University of Texas at Arlington TX 76016, USA

Computer models of the heart have become useful tools in improving understanding of cardiac electrical activation at the cellular level, and in analyzing mechanisms of arrhythmias and antiarrhythmic therapies. In this paper, we propose to use spherical harmonic (SPHARM) surface reconstruction and alignment methods to generate curvilinear meshes for finite element models of ventricular anatomy which incorporate detailed structural information. The endocardial and epicardial surfaces are defined by SPHARM, and the volume between these surfaces is divided into nested shells. Consequently, the resulting mesh comprises hexahedral elements. Using this novel SPHARM-based meshing method, the transmembrane potential propagation is simulated, based on FitzHugh—Nagumo reaction—diffusion equations. The dynamic electrical activation propagations are simulated on realistic cardiac data during a heart cycle. The obtained results clearly demonstrate an accurate resolution of the cardiac potential during the excitation. Our novel curvilinear mesh models have a great potential to be used in an improved simulation of cardiovascular pathologies for testing therapy strategies and planning interventions.

Key Words: Cardiac electrical simulation • curvilinear meshes for finite element • computer simulation of cardiac excitability

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