title: A comparison of monodomain and bidomain propagation models for the human heart.
abstract: A bidomain reaction-diffusion model of the human heart was developed and potentials resulting from normal depolarization and repolarization were compared with results from a compatible monodomain model. Comparisons were made for an empty isolated heart and for a heart with fluid-filled ventricles. Both sinus rhythm and ectopic activation were simulated. The model took 2 days on 32 processors to simulate a complete cardiac cycle. Differences between monodomain and bidomain results were very small, even for the extracellular potentials which, for the monodomain model, were computed with a high-resolution forward model. Electrograms computed with monodomain and bidomain models were visually indistinguishable. We conclude that, in the absence of applied currents, propagating action potentials on the scale of a human heart can be studied with a monodomain model.
authors.affiliation: Res. Center, Hosp. du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, Que. mark@potse.nl
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Potse
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dubé
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vinet
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cardinal
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016276:Ventricular Function