Development of a model of the infarcted canine heart that predicts arrhythmia generation from specific cardiac geometry and scar distribution

The role of the 3D infarct structure in arrhythmia generation and maintenance in hearts with myocardial infarction cannot be fully elucidated through experimental techniques alone. Our aim was to develop methodology to construct a high resolution computational model of the infarcted canine heart using magnetic resonance (MRI) and diffusion tensor images (DTI) and then to use the resulting model to study post-infarction ventricular tachycardia (VT). Segmentation of the MRI and DTI stacks using image processing techniques provided accurate representations of the myocardium, the infarct scar, and the border zone (BZ) surrounding the scar. Realistic electrophysiological properties were assigned to each region. Simulations using the novel model revealed that postinfarction VT is initiated and maintained by reentrant circuits located within the BZ.