Patent ID: 6772004
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A method for noninvasively determining electrical activity on a surface of a heart of a living being, the being having a torso with an exposed body surface surrounding the heart, the method comprising steps of:determining electrical potentials at a plurality of locations on the body surface of the being by monitoring electrodes that are positioned to detect electrical potentials at the plurality of locations; repeating the determining at predetermined intervals over a predetermined period of time; generating body surface potential maps that represent a distribution of the electrical potentials determined over the predetermined period of time; determining an epicardial envelope surrounding the heart; determining a geometry of the torso of the being; determining locations of the electrodes; determining a position of the heart within the torso; determining a matrix of transformation using a boundary element method based on the epicardial envelope, the geometry, the locations of the electrodes and the position of the heart within the torso; regularizing the matrix of transformation; determining an electrical potential distribution over the surface of the heart based on the regularized matrix of transformation and the body surface potential map.