Project Coordinator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yeşim Serinağaoğlu Doğrusöz
Project Type: TUBITAK 2540, TÜBİTAK – Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) Bilateral Cooperation Project
Project Budget: 756.252 TL
Project Duration: 36 Months
Project Start Date: 01 May 2021
Funded Personnel: 1 PhD Student (Full-Time), 2 MSc Students (Full-Time), 2 Undergraduate Students (Full-Time)
Project Summary: The project is focused on advanced non-invasive methods for the localization of the origin of an undesired ventricular activity known as the extrasystoles. The treatment of these arrhythmias involves an invasive procedure using an endocardial mapping, during which such origins are eliminated by the application of radiofrequency energy. The methods proposed in the project aim to shorten this time demanding invasive procedure, by guiding the clinicians to the correct regions of the arrhythmia origin.
Computational methods for obtaining information about the heart’s condition non-invasively from multiple-leads electrocardiography (ECG) measurements are called as the inverse problem of ECG or electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI). This problem is in general ill-posed, i.e. no unique solution exists corresponding to the measurements. Each research group participating in the project uses their own approaches to the inverse problem solution, which were previously evaluated for their accuracy on simulated or experimental animal data. Researchers from Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey, use various regularization and statistical methods and obtain the results on the heart ventricles in the form of epicardial potentials. Researchers from the Institute of Measurement Science (IMS SAS), Slovakia, apply the method using a single dipole as representative of the local activation of the heart’s ventricles. In the proposed project, both research groups plan to apply their methods on the common clinical data from the patients with the diagnosis of premature ventricular contraction (PVC), who are indicated for invasive endocardial mapping and radiofrequency ablation. The computational results will be validated with the known position of the catheter in case of successful elimination of the origin of the undesired ventricular contraction. Coordination will be maintained by web meetings, and visits by each research group to their partner institution.
