抄録
A 3-dimensional computer model was constructed to simulate the ventricular depolarization and repolarization processes in a human heart, and the T wave as well as the QRS-complex were obtained automatically under arbitrary abnormal heart conditions such as bundle branch block and myocardial infarction.
The ventricles with bundle branches and the Purkinje fibers were composed in detail by approximately 50, 000 units. To each unit a different action potential waveform was assigned. The excitation propagates along the bundle branches to the Purkinje fibers and into the ventricles isotropically from the endocardium to the epicardium. Thus the activation time of each unit was determined. With a homogeneous torso model, the body surface potential distributions generated by the EMF sources which are proportional to the spatial gradient of the action potential are calculated by means of the boundary element method. The resulting electrocardiogram, the vectorcardiogram, and the body surface potential map are in good agreement with the observations.
Moreover the ventricular gradient, the primary T wave, and the secondary T wave were also evaluated in the present simulation.
Realistic induction of the T wave based on natural propagation of the excitation front has not been done so far; this is now possible with the present simulation.
