Modeling Supraventricular Tachycardia Using Dynamic Computer-Generated Left Atrium

Abstract

Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) is a type of irregular heartbeat seen when the heart's upper chambers beat either too quickly or out of rhythm with the heart's lower chambers. The loss of synchronization between the upper and lower chambers will result in perturbations of, blood flow. This is why SVT, which includes atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter, is a leading cause of strokes, heart attacks, and heart failure in the world today. The most successful treatment for SVT is catheter ablation, a procedure in which an electrophysiologist (EP) maps the heart to find areas with abnormal electrical activity. The EP then runs a catheter into the heart to ablate the abnormal areas, blocking the electrical signals or destroying the myocytes causing them. Not much is known about what triggers SVT and much research is still being done to find effective ablation strategies for various forms of SVT. We have produced a dynamic model of the left atrium accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs. An interface allows researchers to insert ectopic signals into the simulated atrium and ablate sections of the atrium allowing them to rapidly gain insight into what causes SVT and how to terminate them.