Endocardial mapping system

Claim 1

A method of mapping a volumetric electrical potential distribution of a heart chamber arising from electrical activation in a myocardium comprising the steps of: a) positioning an electrode array within the endocardial cavity; b) positioning a reference electrode at the interior surface of said heart chamber at a known distance from said array, said reference electrode and said array together defining an endocardine reference position; c) measuring volume and shape of said heart chamber, and generating volume measurement data from the volume and shape measurements; d) computing the position of said array, from said volume measurement, and from said endocardial reference position, and generating array position measurement data; e) measuring electrical potentials on said array, and generating electrical potential measurement data from the electrical potential measurements; f) computing the three-dimensional volumetric electrical field distribution of said heart chamber volume from a spherical harmonic series expression containing said electrical potential measurements, and said array position measurement data; and g) displaying said volumetric electrical field distribution.

Claim 2

A method of mapping a volumetric electrical potential distribution of a heart chamber arising from electrical activation in a myocardium comprising the steps of: a) positioning an electrode array within the endocardial cavity; b) positioning a reference electrode at the interior surface of said heart chamber at a known distance from said array, said reference electrode and said array together defining an endocardine reference position; c) measuring volume and shape of said heart chamber, and generating volume measurement data from the volume and shape measurements; d) computing the position of said array, from said volume measurement, and from said endocardial reference position, and generating array position measurement data; e) measuring electrical potentials on said array, and generating electrical potential measurement data from the electrical potential measurements; f) computing the three-dimensional volumetric electrical field distribution of said heart chamber volume from a spherical harmonic series expression containing said electrical potential measurements, and said array position measurement data; and g) displaying said volumetric electrical field distribution.

Claim 3

A method of mapping a two-dimensional electrical potential distribution within a wall of a heart chamber arising from electrical activation in a myocardium comprising the steps of: a) positioning an electrode array within the endocardial cavity; b) positioning a reference electrode at the interior surface of said heart chamber at a known distance from said array, said reference electrode and said array together defining an endocardial reference position; c) measuring volume and shape of said heart chamber, and generating volume measurement data from the volume and shape measurements; d) computing the position of said array, from said volume measurement, and from said endocardial reference position, and generating array position measurement data; e) measuring the electrical potentials on said array, and generating electrical potential measurement data from the electrical potential measurements; f) computing a three-dimensional volumetric electrical field distribution of said heart chamber volume from a spherical harmonic series expression containing said electrical potential measurement data, and said array position measurement data; g) defining a set of computed potential points on the wall of said heart chamber; h) inerting an intramural electrode into said wall defining a subsurface electrode site and, generating a subsurface voltage measurement, from said subsurface electrode site; i) computing a two-dimensional potential distribution from a center of gravity calculation from said computed potential points from step g) and from said subsurface voltage measurement from step h), and generating two-dimensional map data from the two dimensional potential distribution; and j) displaying a two-dimensional potential distribution map from said two-dimensional map data.

Claim 4

A method of mapping a two-dimensional electrical potential distribution within a wall of a heart chamber arising from electrical activation in a myocardium comprising the steps of: a) positioning an electrode array within the endocardial cavity; b) positioning a reference electrode at the interior surface of said heart chamber at a known distance from said array, said reference electrode and said array together defining an endocardial reference position; c) measuring volume and shape of said heart chamber, and generating volume measurement data from the volume and shape measurements; d) computing the position of said array, from said volume measurement, and from said endocardial reference position, and generating array position measurement data; e) measuring the electrical potentials on said array, and generating electrical potential measurement data from the electrical potential measurements; f) computing a three-dimensional volumetric electrical field distribution of said heart chamber volume from a spherical harmonic series expression containing said electrical potential measurement data, and said array position measurement data; g) defining a set of computed potential points on the wall of said heart chamber; h) inerting an intramural electrode into said wall defining a subsurface electrode site and, generating a subsurface voltage measurement, from said subsurface electrode site; i) computing a two-dimensional potential distribution from a center of gravity calculation from said computed potential points from step g) and from said subsurface voltage measurement from step h), and generating two-dimensional map data from the two dimensional potential distribution; and j) displaying a two-dimensional potential distribution map from said two-dimensional map data.