Dynamic electrophysiological data visualization on a 3D model of the human heart

The visualization of the potential distributions measured intraoperatively with 256 electrodes on the epicardial and endocardial surfaces of the human heart is important to guide antiarrhythmia surgery. A method has been developed for interactively visualizing the electrophysiological data gathered by these electrodes on a computer-generated 3D model of the heart. The epicardial and endocardial surfaces are extracted from computed tomography data and are modeled as triangle meshes. The datum at each vertex of a mesh is either directly available (if an electrode is at that vertex) or can be calculated by interpolation using a localized version of Hardy´s multiquadric algorithm. Once the value at each vertex of a given surface is known, different interactive visualization techniques such as animation, direct manipulation, contouring and transparent surface rendering are used to enhance the underlying variations in potential distribution