Method for treating complex rhythm disorders

1. A method of treating a complex rhythm disorder of a heart in a human, the method comprising:

identifying a region of a wall of the heart having an activation trail that is rotational or radially emanating, the activation trail indicative of the complex rhythm disorder and based on activation times associated with one or more activations of the heart;

selecting a portion of the region, at least a portion of which is interior to the activation trail; and

modifying the portion of the region to affect the activation trail.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder comprises one of atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder is atrial fibrillation and the activation trail is indicative of the atrial fibrillation.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activation trail comprises a rotor.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the region of the heart comprises:

accessing activation signals of sensors disposed spatially in relation to the heart; and

arranging the activation times of the activation signals to identify the activation trail of the region.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the activation times are arranged in a sequence based on one or more of timing of the activation times, timing related to shapes of the activation signals, spatial relationship of sensors related to the activation signals, and phase of the activation signals.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

analyzing the activation signals of one or more of the sensors; and

approximating the activation trail of the region based on the analyzing.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein analyzing the activation signals comprises analyzing one or more of rate, regularity, amplitude, duration, and location.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises:

constructing voltage-time tracings of the activation signals; and

inserting physiological patterns at the activation times of the activation signals in the voltage-time tracings.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the physiological patterns comprise one or more patterns selected from the group consisting of unipolar tracings, bipolar tracings, monophasic action potential representations, and combinations thereof.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises using the sensors to sense the activation signals concurrently in time or stepwise in time.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises identifying a core region around which the activation trail rotates or from which the activation trail radially emanates, wherein the region comprises the core region.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

selecting a portion of the region comprises selecting at least a portion of the core region; and

modifying the portion comprises modifying the at least a portion of the core region selected.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

selecting a portion of the region comprises selecting a portion of the region adjacent the core region; and

modifying the portion of the region comprises modifying the portion of the region adjacent the core region to isolate or migrate the activation trail.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises displaying a representation of the core region.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the activation trail with a reference activation trail; and

modifying the activation trail based on the comparison.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises generating a representation of the activation trail.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises displaying the representation of the activation trail.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein displaying the representation of the activation trail comprises displaying an activation trail of the activation times.

20. A method of treating a complex rhythm disorder of a heart in a human, the method comprising:

identifying a region of a wall of the heart having an activation trail that is rotational or radially emanating, the activation trail based on activation times associated with activations of the heart;

selecting a portion of the wall, at least a portion of which is interior to the activation trail; and

modifying the portion of the wall to affect the activation trail to treat the complex rhythm disorder.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein selecting the portion of the wall comprises selecting a portion of the region of the wall.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the portion of the region of the wall comprises a core region.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein the activation trail comprises a rotor.

24. The method of claim 20 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder comprises one of atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.

25. The method of claim 20 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder is atrial fibrillation, and the activation trail is indicative of the atrial fibrillation.

26. The method of claim 20 , wherein identifying the region of the heart comprises:

accessing activation signals of sensors disposed spatially in relation to the heart; and

arranging activation times of the activation signals to identify the activation trail of the region.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the activation times are arranged in a sequence based on one or more of: timing of the activation times, timing related to shapes of the activation signals, spatial relationship of sensors related to the activation signals, and phase of the activation signals.

28. The method of claim 27 , further comprising:

analyzing the activation signals of one or more of the sensors; and

approximating the activation trail of the region based on the analyzing.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein analyzing the activation signals comprises analyzing one or more of rate, regularity, amplitude, duration and location.

30. The method of claim 26 , wherein the method further comprises:

constructing voltage-time tracings of the activation signals; and

inserting physiological patterns at the activation times of the activation signals in the voltage-time tracings.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein the physiological patterns comprise one or more patterns selected from the group consisting of unipolar tracings, bipolar tracings, monophasic action potential representations, and combinations thereof.

32. The method of claim 26 , wherein the method further comprises using the sensors to sense the activation signals concurrently in time or stepwise in time.

33. The method of claim 20 , wherein the method further comprises identifying a core region around which the activation trail rotates or from which the activation trail radially emanates, and wherein the region comprises the core region.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein selecting a portion of the wall comprises selecting at least a portion of the core region; and wherein modifying the portion of the wall comprises modifying the at least a portion of the core region selected.

35. The method of claim 33 , wherein selecting a portion of the wall comprises selecting a portion of the region adjacent the core region; and wherein modifying the portion of the wall comprises modifying the portion of the region adjacent the core region to isolate or migrate the activation trail.

36. The method of claim 33 , wherein the method further comprises displaying a representation of the core region.

37. The method of claim 20 , wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the activation trail with a reference activation trail; and

modifying the activation trail based on the comparison.

38. The method of claim 20 , wherein the method further comprises generating a representation of the activation trail.

39. The method of claim 38 , wherein the method further comprises displaying the representation of the activation trail.

40. The method of claim 39 , wherein displaying the representation of the activation trail comprises displaying an activation trail of the activation times.

41. A method of treating a complex rhythm disorder of a heart in a human, the method comprising:

identifying a region of a wall of the heart having an activation trail comprising activations that revolve around or radially emanate from a core region, the region comprising the core region;

selecting a portion of the region of the wall, at least a portion of which is interior to the core region; and

modifying the portion of the region to affect the activation trail.

42. The method of claim 41 , wherein selecting the portion of the region comprises selecting a portion of the core region of the wall.

43. The method of claim 41 , wherein the activation trail comprises a rotor.

44. The method of claim 41 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder comprises one of atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia.

45. The method of claim 41 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder is atrial fibrillation and the activation trail is indicative of atrial fibrillation.

46. The method of claim 41 , wherein identifying the region of the heart comprises:

accessing activation signals of sensors disposed spatially in relation to the heart; and

arranging activation times associated with activations of the activation signals to identify the activation trail of the region.

47. The method of claim 46 , wherein the activation times are arranged in a sequence based on one or more of: timing of the activation times, timing related to shapes of the activation signals, spatial relationship of sensors related to the activation signals, and phase of the activation signals.

48. The method of claim 47 , further comprising:

analyzing the activation signals of one or more of the sensors; and

approximating the activation trail of the region based on the analyzing.

49. The method of claim 48 , wherein analyzing the activation signals comprises analyzing one or more of rate, regularity, amplitude, duration and location.

50. The method of claim 46 , wherein the method further comprises:

constructing voltage-time tracings of the activation signals; and

inserting physiological patterns at the activation times of the activation signals in the voltage-time tracings.

51. The method of claim 50 , wherein the physiological patterns comprise one or more patterns selected from the group consisting of unipolar tracings, bipolar tracings, monophasic action potential representations, and combinations thereof.

52. The method of claim 46 , wherein the method further comprises using the sensors to sense the activation signals concurrently in time or stepwise in time.

53. The method of claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises identifying the core region around which the activation trail revolves or from which the activation trail radially emanates, wherein the region comprises the core region.

54. The method of claim 53 , wherein selecting a portion of the region comprises selecting at least a portion of the core region; and wherein modifying the portion of the region comprises modifying the at least a portion of the core region selected.

55. The method of claim 53 , wherein selecting a portion of the region comprises selecting a portion of the region adjacent the core region; and wherein modifying the portion of the region comprises modifying the portion of the region adjacent the core region to isolate or migrate the activation trail.

56. The method of claim 53 , wherein the method further comprises displaying a representation of the core region.

57. The method of claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the activation trail with a reference activation trail; and

modifying the activation trail based on the comparison.

58. The method of claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises generating a representation of the activation trail.

59. The method of claim 58 , wherein the method further comprises displaying the representation of the activation trail.

60. The method of claim 59 , wherein displaying the representation of the activation trail comprises displaying the activation trail of the activations.

61. A method of treating a complex rhythm disorder of a heart in a human, the method comprising:

identifying a region of a wall of the heart having activations that revolve around or radially emanate from a core region, the region comprising the core region;

selecting a portion of the core region of the wall, at least a portion of which is interior to the activations; and

modifying the portion of the core region to affect the activations of the region of the heart to treat the complex rhythm disorder.

62. The method of claim 61 , wherein the method further comprises identifying an activation pattern comprising the activations that revolve around or radially emanate from the core region.

63. The method of claim 62 , wherein the activation pattern comprises a rotor.

64. The method of claim 62 , wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the activation pattern with a reference activation pattern; and

modifying the activation pattern based on the comparison.

65. The method of claim 61 , wherein the method further comprises identifying an activation trail comprising the activations that revolve around or radially emanate from the core region.

66. The method of claim 61 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder comprises one of atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia.

67. The method of claim 61 , wherein the complex rhythm disorder is atrial fibrillation and the activation trail is indicative of atrial fibrillation.

68. The method of claim 61 , wherein identifying the region of the heart comprises:

accessing activation signals of sensors disposed spatially in relation to the heart; and

arranging activation times associated with activations of the activation signals to identify an activation pattern of the region comprising the activations that revolve around or radially emanate from the core region.

69. The method of claim 68 , wherein the activation times are arranged in a sequence based on one or more of: timing of the activation times, timing related to shapes of the activation signals, spatial relationship of sensors related to the activation signals, and phase of the activation signals.

70. The method of claim 69 , further comprising:

analyzing the activation signals of one or more of the sensors; and

approximating the activation pattern of the region based on the analyzing.

71. The method of claim 70 , wherein analyzing the activation signals comprises analyzing one or more of rate, regularity, amplitude, duration, and location.

72. The method of claim 68 , wherein the method further comprises:

constructing voltage-time tracings of the activation signals; and

inserting physiological patterns at the activation times of the activation signals in the voltage-time tracings.

73. The method of claim 72 , wherein the physiological patterns comprise one or more patterns selected from the group consisting of unipolar tracings, bipolar tracings, monophasic action potential representations, and combinations thereof.

74. The method of claim 68 , wherein the method further comprises using the sensors to sense the activation signals concurrently in time or stepwise in time.

75. The method of claim 61 , wherein the method further comprises identifying the core region around which the activations revolve or from which the activations radially emanate.

76. The method of claim 75 , wherein the method further comprises:

selecting a portion of the region adjacent the core region; and

modifying the portion of the region adjacent the core region to isolate or migrate the activations of the region.

77. The method of claim 75 , wherein the method further comprises displaying a representation of the core region.

78. The method of claim 61 , wherein the method further comprises generating a representation of the activations that revolve around or radially emanate from the core region.

79. The method of claim 78 , wherein the method further comprises displaying the representation of the activations.

80. The method of claim 79 , wherein displaying the representation of the activations comprises displaying an activation pattern of the activations.