The next generation EKG - in vivo demonstration of noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging during normal sinus rhythm

Noninvasive, in vivo, reconstruction of epicardial electrical activity is needed to help better study, understand, and treat electrical rhythm abnormalities. Here, a new method for noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging is used to reconstruct epicardial potentials in vivo during normal sinus rhythm. This method used measured body surface potentials (BSPMs) and the relative geometry between the body surface and epicardial surface from computed tomography (CT) to reconstruct in vivo epicardial potentials during normal sinus rhythm. The reconstructed epicardial potentials correlated qualitatively with those expected for various aspects of normal sinus rhythm (NSR). This study shows that noninvasively reconstructed epicardial potentials could provide useful information on the electrical activity of the heart during normal activation and repolarization sequences not otherwise available.