A Computational Investigation into the Effect of Infarction on Clinical Human Electrophysiology Biomarkers

Abstract : The electrocardiogram (ECG) is often used to diag- nose myocardial infarction, but sensitivity and specificity are low. Here we present a computational framework for solving the bidomain equations over an image-based hu- man geometry and simulating the 12 lead ECG. First, we demonstrate this approach by evaluating a population of eight models with varying distributions of local action po- tential duration, and report that only the model with apico- basal and inter-ventricular heterogeneities produces concordant T waves. Second, we simulate the effects of an old anterior infarct, which causes a reduction in T wave amplitude and width. Our methodology can contribute to the understanding of ECG alterations under challenging conditions for clinical diagnosis.