It has been proposed that by optimizing the timing of activation between the ventricles (V-V interval), with the aid of body-surface potential mapping (BSPM),
IntroductionMany patients with heart failure have an underlying abnormality in the cardiac conduction system [1], such that the timing of the ventricular contractions becomes dyssynchronous, which further impairs cardiac output [2]. In these cases, restoration of ventricular synchrony is accomplished by use of an implantable pacemaker, which activates both ventricles in a process known as cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) or biventricular pacing (BVP).While CRT is successful in many cases, at least 30% of patients do not respond to CRT [3]. Recently, it has been proposed that if the ventricles are paced sequentially (V-V timing), instead of simultaneously, the ventricular synchrony of the heart can be further improved. This could help to maximize the mechanical efficiency of the heart, allowing more patients to benefit from CRT [4].One possible non-invasive method for evaluating ventricular electrical synchrony during different pacing modes is body-surface potential mapping (BSPM). It requires the placement of at least 100 electrocardiographic leads on the patient torso, in a variety of configurations. Because of the increased spatial resolution, BSPM provides a comprehensive three-dimensional picture of cardiac electrical activity that is not possible with the conventional 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Moreover, it is possible to incorporate patient-specific torso geometry from computed tomography (CT) scans and calculate activation sequences (depicted as isochrones of activation times) on the epicardial surface of the heart. Epicardial potential maps and isochrones can be used to asses the electrical synchrony of the ventricles and are, therefore, valuable tools for determining the optimal inter-ventricular pacing delay.
MethodsBody-surface potential recordings were performed on two patients with implanted Medtronic CRT devices (InSync III and Concerto) at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. Ethics approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Board. One hundred and twenty disposable radiolucent Ag/AgCl surface electrodes (FoxMed, Idstein, Germany) were attached to the patients' torso in the Dalhousie mapping configuration. The V-V timing was varied from L80R (indicating LV lead activation, 80 ms delay and then RV lead activation) to R80L. 15 seconds of recording was done for each setting. Data were acquired via a custom acquistion system (BioSemi, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) at 2000 Hz and digitized with 16-bit quantization. All recordings were stored off-line for later analysis.Axial CT scans of the upper torso were performed for each patient using a Siemens SOMATOM Sensations 64-slice CT scanner (Siemens Medical, USA) at the QEII Health Sciences Centre. The spacing between each scan was 1 mm and the resulting images were stored in the DI-COM format for analysis with Amira 4.0 software (Mer-