Personalized computational modeling of atrial fibrosis to guide catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation

1. A method for identifying one or more ablation locations in an atrial tissue region in an atrial fibrillation (AF) patient with atrial fibrosis, the method comprising:

receiving three-dimensional imaging data representing the atria of the patient;

generating a patient-specific model of the atria from the three-dimensional imaging data;

conducting simulation of AF using the patient-specific atrial model to identify AF-perpetrating regions, wherein conducing the simulation comprises:

identifying multiple groups of a relationship between pacing locations based on pacing cycle length and distance of each pacing location from lesions of the patient-specific atrial model; and

identifying groups from among the multiple groups which sustain AF during pacing;

identifying from the AF-perpetrating regions one or more ablation locations in the atria,

wherein the AF-perpetrating regions comprise regions of tissue that contain the organizing centers of persistent electrical rotors during the simulation; and

simulating ablation of multiple lesions within and around the AF-perpetrating regions to determine a size and a shape of each of said one or more ablation locations necessary to render the atria non-inducible to AF,

wherein information about said one or more ablation locations of determined sizes and shapes is suitable for guided catheter ablation to make the atria non-inducible to AF.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the persistent electrical rotors are re-circulating electrical waves in cardiac tissue.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein conducting the simulation using the patient-specific model to identify the AF-perpetrating regions further comprises:

determining whether pacing stimuli will degrade into reentrant activity.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein conducting the simulation using the patient-specific model to identify the AF-perpetuating regions further comprises:

modeling fibrotic lesions with electrophysiological properties that are distinct from non-fibrotic regions.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein conducting the simulation using the patient-specific model to identify the AF-perpetuating regions further comprises:

simulating induction of AF using a dynamic pacing from different locations.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein conducting the simulation using the patient-specific atrial model to identify the AF-perpetrating regions further comprises:

determining fibrotic lesions that lead to the breakup of pacing-induced wavefronts and degeneration of the wavefronts into reentrant waves that form AF rotors; and

determining spatial location of the resulting AF rotors.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patient-specific atrial model includes modeling of fibrosis as ion channel function remodeling.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said three-dimensional imaging data is at least one of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound, or nuclear tracer three-dimensional imaging data.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving additional patient-specific data that includes at least one of biopsy data, electrocardiogram data, recorded data from an implantable device, or invasive electrical mapping data,

wherein the simulation uses the additional patient-specific data.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein conducting the simulation using the patient-specific atrial model to identify the AF-perpetrating regions further comprises:

constructing a geometric model of the atria, said geometric model including normal tissue regions and remodeled tissue regions determined for said patient using the three-dimensional imaging data.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

estimating atrial fiber orientations in said geometric model.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the geometric model of the tissue region includes at least a geometric model of right and left atria of the patient's heart, and

wherein said remodeled tissue regions are segmented into a plurality of different regions based on said three-dimensional imaging data, said plurality of different regions including imaging data consistent with fibrotic regions, scar tissue regions, normal tissues regions, and transition zones between normal and fibrotic or scar tissue regions.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein conducting the simulation using the patient-specific atrial model to identify the AF-perpetrating regions includes simulating electrophysiological activity of at least the right and left atria of the patient's heart.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable code for identifying one or more ablation locations in an atrial tissue region in an atrial fibrillation (AF) patient with atrial fibrosis, said computer-executable code comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to:

receive three-dimensional imaging data representing the atria of the patient;

generate a patient-specific atrial model of AF from the three-dimensional imaging data;

conduct a simulation of AF using the patient-specific atrial model to identify AF-perpetrating regions, wherein conducting the simulation comprises:

identifying multiple groups of a relationship between pacing locations based on pacing cycle length and distance of each pacing location from lesions of the patient-specific atrial model; and

identifying groups from among the multiple groups which sustain AF during pacing;

identify from the AF-perpetrating regions one or more ablation locations in the atria,

wherein the AF-perpetrating regions comprise regions of tissue that contain the organizing centers of persistent electrical rotors during the simulation; and

simulate ablation of multiple lesions within and around the AF-perpetrating regions to determine a size and a shape of each of said one or more ablation locations necessary to render the atria non-inducible to AF,

wherein information about said one or more ablation locations of determined sizes and shapes is suitable for guided catheter ablation to make the atria non-inducible to AF.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein persistent electrical rotors are re-circulating electrical waves in cardiac tissue.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising computer-executable code that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to:

determine whether pacing stimuli will degrade into reentrant activity.