title: Electropathological substrate detection of persistent atrial fibrillation--a novel method to analyze unipolar electrograms of noncontact mapping.
abstract: Radiofrequency catheter ablation as a curative method for atrial fibrillation (AF) has become increasingly popular. Patients with paroxysmal AF have been treated by catheter ablation with great success, but so far this treatment has been less effective for patients with persistent AF. Usually there are multiple triggers or substrates during persistent AF and their exact locations are unclear. On the other hand, the non-contact mapping system (Ensite 3000, St Jude Medical) producing thousands of virtual endocardial electrograms, has gradually become accepted as a powerful tool to use on patients before and after ablation. Effective mathematical tools to detect the substrates of AF from unipolar electrograms produced by the non-contact mapping are few, though many methods are available for performing this task with bipolar electrograms. In this work, we introduce for the first time a simple and efficient approach to automatically and systematically determine the substrate of persistent AF in order to guide catheter ablation via the non-contact mapping.
authors.affiliation: Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jichao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Trew
authors.forename: Bruce H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Smaill
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Pullan
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018780:Body Surface Potential Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity