Trajectory planning applied to the estimation of cardiac activation circuits

Abstract

A procedure for helping the professional in electrophysiology in performing catheter ablation as a definitive treatment of certain types of arrythmia is presented here. This procedure uses trajectory planning techniques that have been developed in the robotics field. Starting off from signals obtained in an electrophysiological study of a patient, an electrical model of the heart with zones of different propagation properties is generated. Trajectory planning techniques are used to obtain the qualitative behavior of the heart under different types of arrythmia. A good point for ablation is computed as one that interrupts the trajectory that is sustaining the arrythmia. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.