A simulation study on a catheter navigation method for guiding the ablative therapy of cardiac arrhythmias

We investigated the ability of a computer algorithm to guide the ablative therapy of cardiac arrhythmias. Specifically, in computer simulations we examined the accuracy of this algorithm to guide the tip of the ablation catheter to the site of the origin of the arrhythmias. We model both the ECG corresponding site of the origin of the arrhythmia and current pulses generated from a pair of electrodes at the tip of the ablation catheter with a single equivalent moving dipole (SEMD). In the forward problem we employed a realistic anatomic geometry torso model. In the inverse problem we used the SEMD model in an infinite homogeneous volume conductor. The results of this investigation suggest that the bounded, heterogeneous volume conductor introduces systematic error in the estimated compared to the true dipole position. However, we found that the systematic error had minor influence in the ability of the algorithm to accurately guide the tip of the ablation catheter to the site of the origin of the arrhythmia.