MAEJO INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Volume 16, No. 03, Month SEPTEMBER, Year 2022, Pages 275 - 290

A novel iterative finite element optimisation method of solving inverse problem of electrocardiography to localise ischemic region on the heart

Hamed Kaghazchi and Mustafa Kerem Un

Abstract Download PDF

The inverse problem of electrocardiography (ECG) involves determining the transmembrane potential distribution within the heart from the ECG readings taken from the torso. The problem bears importance since its solution prescribes a tool for identifying various heart anomalies including locating the ischemic zone in the heart. The solution of the inverse problem is typically achieved by running a finite element simulation and obtaining a matrix relationship between torso potentials and the transmembrane potentials. The resulting system is usually underdetermined and solved with constraint optimisation (i.e. regularisation), where various constraints have been utilised in the literature. In this work we introduce a novel, regularisation-free iterative technique that uses finite element optimisation to tackle the inverse problem and locate the ischemic zone in the heart. The technique relies on a simple parametrisation of the location of the ischemic region in a bidomain heart model and eliminates the need for regularisation applied in the existing methods. The parameters are iteratively evolved using a sensitivity analysis and, when converged, indicate the location of the ischemic zone. The method is observed to successfully find the ischemic region, independent from where it is located in the heart.

Keywords

electrocardiography, finite element optimisation, ischemic region, inverse problem

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