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SUMMARY:Towards patient-specific simulations of atrial fibrillation - Webe
 r\, F (Karlsruhe (TH))
DTSTART:20090723T133000Z
DTEND:20090723T134500Z
UID:TALK19161@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
DESCRIPTION:Patient-specific cardiac simulations are approaching clinical 
 applications. They could for example improve the treatment of atrial fibri
 llation (AF). Currently\, many patients suffering from AF are treated with
  minimally-invasive catheter ablation. Using this technique\, trigger sour
 ces for AF (mainly the pulmonary veins)\, are electrically isolated from t
 he rest of the atrium. However\, a large set of different ablation strateg
 ies is currently used in clinical practice. \n\nTherefore\, the choice of 
 a certain ablation strategy as well as the probability for successful and 
 sustained AF termination are strongly dependent on the experience of the c
 ardiologist. Atrial simulations could assist the cardiologist in the choic
 e of a suitable method for an individual patient. For this\, the atrial mo
 dels have to be adapted to the patient. Besides anatomical modeling\, seve
 ral challenges must be faced in this process. \n\nFirst\, an appropriate m
 odel of cellular electrophysiology and excitation conduction must be chose
 n. The model must provide the necessary accuracy and at the same time be f
 ast enough for clinical applications. As a trade-off between accuracy and 
 speed\, we propose a minimal model adapted to atrial electrophysiology. \n
 \nSecond\, a main problem is the adaptation of physiological parameters in
  the patient-specific model as well as its validation. Therefore\, an inte
 rface between clinical data and the model is needed. Data collected in sta
 ndard clinical workflow are mainly intracardiac catheter ECGs. We therefor
 e present techniques to model such catheter measurements. Signals from bot
 h circular mapping catheters (such as Lasso or Orbiter) as well as Coronar
 y Sinus catheters can be simulated and compared to clinical signals. \n\nT
 hese are important steps towards clinical applications of atrial models. T
 he long-term goal then is to assist the cardiologist in the choice of the 
 best treatment for an individual patient.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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