Abstract

TOBON, Catalina; ROMERO, Daniel A  and  CARDONA, Karen. ECTOPIC FOCI LOCATION DURING PERMANENT ATRIAL FIBRILLATION USING A NEW INDEX OHF. A SIMULATION STUDY. Rev. ing. biomed. [online]. 2014, vol.8, n.16, pp.51-55. ISSN 1909-9762.

Atrial fibrillation in some cases is maintained by ectopic foci with automatic activity, spatiotemporal organization and high frequency. Ablating these sites results in the AF termination in a high percentage of patients with paroxysmal AF, however, in patients with permanent AF these sites are difficult to recognize due to the ability of the remodeled atria to be activated at high frequencies. A more accurate method is needed to delimit better these areas. In the present work, we developed a new index, based on dominant frequency (DF) and organization index (OI), to identify these areas. For this, we simulated permanent AF episodes maintained by ectopic foci with continuous activity in three different regions, implementing a 3D model of human atrium. Electrograms were obtained across the atrial surface and its DF and IO were calculated. The OHF index (Organization High Frequency), was calculated as the product of the DF and IO values of individual electrograms and we created false color maps in the 3D model. The results show that the OHF index is able to identify ectopic foci of continuous activity during simulated permanent AF episodes.

Keywords : Permanent atrial fibrillation; Ectopic foci; OHF index; 3D simulation.

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