title: Heart-surface reconstruction and ECG electrodes localization using fluoroscopy, epipolar geometry and stereovision: application to noninvasive imaging of cardiac electrical activity.
abstract: To date there is no imaging modality for cardiac arrhythmias which remain the leading cause of sudden death in the United States (> 300000/yr.). Electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI), a noninvasive modality that images cardiac arrhythmias from body surface potentials, requires the geometrical relationship between the heart surface and the positions of body surface ECG electrodes. A photographic method was validated in a mannequin and used to determine the three-dimensional coordinates of body surface ECG electrodes to within 1 mm of their actual positions. Since fluoroscopy is available in the cardiac electrophysiology (EP) laboratory where diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias is conducted, a fluoroscopic method to determine the heart surface geometry was developed based on projective geometry, epipolar geometry, point reconstruction, b-spline interpolation and visualization. Fluoroscopy-reconstructed hearts in a phantom and a human subject were validated using high-resolution computed tomography (CT) imaging. The mean absolute distance error for the fluoroscopy-reconstructed heart relative to the CT heart was 4 mm (phantom) and 10 mm (human). In the human, ECGI images of normal cardiac electrical activity on the fluoroscopy-reconstructed heart showed close correlation with those obtained on the CT heart. Results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for clinical noninvasive imaging of cardiac arrhythmias in the interventional EP laboratory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Raja N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Ghanem
authors.forename: Charulatha
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ramanathan
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Yoram
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rudy
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D018780:Body Surface Potential Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005471:Fluoroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010496:Pericardium / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D010780:Photogrammetry / Q000379:methods; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D013382:Subtraction Technique