Inverse modeling of Cardiac ARrhythmia sources based on UltraSound imaging (ICARUS)

Cardiac arrhythmias are a leading cause of death worldwide. Although different heart rhythm disorders can be recognized using the electrocardiogram, the precise three-dimensional spatiotemporal organization of cardiac activation patterns inside the heart during certain arrhythmia types is not well understood. Commonly, invasive catheter recordings are needed to record electrograms that hint at the location of abnormal sources or re-entrant activity.A pilot study in 2018 (Christoph et al., Nature) has shown that the electrical vortices in the heart driving the rhythm disorders can be reconstructed from mathematical analysis of the mechanical deformation in ultrasound (US) images. This proposal gathers experts at KULeuven in ultrasound imaging, cardiac modelling and cardiology to bring this technology to clinical applications.Hereto, we will (a) lift US acquisition methods using state-of-art technology available at KULeuven; (b) develop and perform inverse electromechanical modelling to reconstruct electromechanical activation sequences in the heart; (c) use this technology on patients to create personalized computer models (3D+time) and use the in silico reconstructions of spatiotemporal cardiac activation to optimize treatment (e.g. ablation, resynchronisation, pharmaceutics).

Keywords:cardiac arrhythmias, personalized medicine, medical imaging, ultrasound imaging, non-linear waves, mathematical modeling, inverse problem

Disciplines:Cardiology, Modelling and simulation, Biomedical image processing, Diagnostic radiology