Membrane polarization induced in the myocardium by defibrillation fields: an idealized 3-D finite element bidomain/monodomain torso model

This study develops a three-dimensional finite element torso model with bidomain myocardium to simulate the transmembrane potential (TMP) of the heart induced by defibrillation fields. The inhomogeneities of the torso are modeled as eccentric spherical volumes with both the curvature and the rotation features of cardiac fibers incorporated in the myocardial region. The numerical computation of the finite element bidomain myocardial model is validated by a semianalytic solution. The simulations show that rotation of fiber orientation through the depth of the myocardial wall changes the pattern of polarization and decreases the amount of cardiac tissue polarized compared to the idealized analytic model with no fiber rotation incorporated. The TMP induced by transthoracic and transvenous defibrillation fields are calculated and visualized. The TMP is quantified by a continuous measure of the percentage of myocardial mass above a potential gradient threshold. Using this measure, the root mean square differences in TMP distribution produced by reversing the electrode polarity for anterior-posterior and transvenous electrode configurations are 13.6 and 28.6%, respectively. These results support the claim that a bidomain model of the heart predicts a change of defibrillation threshold with reversed electrode polarity.