Computer simulations of activation in an anatomically based model of the human ventricular conduction system

Simulations of the electrical activity during excitation were performed in an anatomically based model of the human ventricular conduction system. Each of the 33000 elements of this model represented a unit bundle of Purkinje or atrioventricular nodal tissue. The Ebihara-Johnson model for sodium defined the active membrane characteristics. Using a combination of new and existing modeling techniques, simulations of excitation were completed in approximately 5 min CPU time on an IBM 3090 at the Cornell National Supercomputer Facility. Activation times at sites in the model were compared to experimental measurements for the excitation of the ventricular myocardium on the endocardial surface. After the times were scaled to adjust for conduction velocity and ventricular latency effects, the match between simulation and experimentally obtained times was good.