Evaluation of the rotating anisotropy of the ventricular myocardium: a simulation study

Computer simulation is used to evaluate the effect of the rotating anisotropy on the excitation process of the heart and on the surface potentials. The simulated intramural and epicardial isochrones of the propagation, the heart vector (an electrical cardiac generator as a single dipole), the surface ECG, and isopotential maps of the anisotropic heart model are compared to those of the isotropic model. The simulation results show that differences between the two models are mainly seen in the late QRS, while the basis patterns of these two models remain similar, which can be explained by the effect of the anisotropy being averaged due to the rotation of the fiber orientation of the ventricular myocardium