title: The surface Laplacian of the potential: theory and application.
abstract: The use of the surface Laplacian of the potential (Ls) in bioelectricity is discussed. Different estimates of Ls, in particular the field measured by coaxial electrodes, are compared to that of the true Laplacian. A method to compute Ls on the surface of an inhomogeneous volume conductor of arbitrary shape resulting from assumed electrical sources in introduced. In two applications the sensitivity of the body surface Laplacian is carried to that of body surface potentials. This comparison is carried out for dipolar sources within the human brain as well as for distributed sources within the heart.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. thom@mbfys.kun.nl
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Oostendorp
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Oosterom
mesh_terms: D018780:Body Surface Potential Mapping / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004566:Electrodes; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D008959:Models, Neurological; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity