Development of a large-scale computer heart model for supporting clinical studies of arrhythmias

Although a large number of studies on cardiac electrical properties have been conducted, it remains difficult to integrate all fragmented data into one unified framework. As an approach to this, we developed a large-scale (6 × 10⁶ elements) three-dimensional simulator of cardiac electrical activity based on human ventricular geometry and experimentally derived ionic channel models. This simulator has the advantages over previous simulators in that ventricular fibrillation can be induced with clinical programmed extrastimulation, fibrillation can be induced more easily by extrastimulation at right ventricular outflow tract as in a clinical situation, and it is possible to examine the contribution of early afterdepolarization to arrhythmogenecity in patients with e.g., long QT syndrome. These advantages indicate that our simulator is useful in supporting a wide range of clinical studies of arrhythmias.