Abstract

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a very promising treatment for patients with congestive heart failure. An Impedance Cardiography (ICG) is used for evaluation of heart mechanical activity. A simulation study with the use of a FEM model was performed. The developed realistic model of the thorax, based on CT data obtained from examination of a 68-year-old man, consisted of 212 000 tetrahedral elements. Different configurations of electrodes allowing extraction of ventricular components from impedance signal were examined. The associated sensitivity distributions were calculated for different phases of heart contraction and blood distribution inside the thorax. These sensitivity distributions were compared to that obtained for a uniform model of the thorax described by averageconductivity. The performed simulation studies proved that it is possible to extract ventricular components of impedance signal with a reasonable accuracy.

Authors (4)