Simulation of arrhythmia using adaptive spatio-temporal resolution

Aims: This study is aimed to present the simulation of several types of cardiac arrhythmias using adaptively selected spatio-temporal resolution, involving the accuracy analysis of the experiment. Methods: We developed a spatio-temporal adaptive whole-heart simulation algorithm that handles automatically and regionally the proper resolution. The limits of upper and lower resolutions (0.2-5 mm; 1-500 J-ls) are a priori established, while the granularity at a given moment depends on the type, place and state of each modeled compartment. We employed the effect of muscle fiber direction, laminar sheet effect, average and minimal depolarization period, and cell inhomogeneity. Results: The estimation errors were maximal during fast depolarization phase of the activation potential. Under normal circumstances, tachycardia and bradycardia, a 2/5/10/20 times lower spatial resolution induced an about 3%/7%/12%/20% estimation error of the depolarizing front line´s shape. In the presence of AF/VF, under similar simulation conditions, the estimation error raised to 7%/15%/22%/34%. Conclusion: The simulation of cardiac arrhythmia demands high spatio-temporal resolution during fast depolarization phase and in presence of AF/VF due to the irregular spread of depolarization.