April 27, 2014

Virtual EP Lab: There IS a Better Way

Computer modeling is poised to deliver personalized healthcare with improved outcomes. Our Computational Cardiology Laboratory is developing with NIH Common Fund support patient specific heart models for guidance of optimal antiarrhythmia therapies. The first application is ventricular ablation termination of arrhythmia by destroying the responsible heart tissue. But finding the right ablation site is difficult: patients undergo a 4 to 12 hour invasive interrogation of heart function and success rate is low. Instead we use the patient heart model to determine noninvasively the optimal ablation target. This methodology could have a dramatic impact reducing costs and improving patient well being.