Detection and localization of multiple epicardial electrical generators by a two-dipole ranging technique.

The ability of a numerical procedure to detect and to localize two experimentally induced, epicardial dipolar generators was tested in 24 isolated, perfused rabbit heart preparations, suspended in an electrolyte-filled spherical tank. Electrocardiograms were recorded from 32 electrodes on the surface of the test chamber before and after placement of each of two epicardial burns. The second lesion was located either 180 degrees, 90 degrees, or 45 degrees from the first. Signals were processed by iterative routines that computed the location of one or two independent dipoles that best reconstruced the observed surface potentials. The computed single dipole acounting for 99.68% of root mean sequare (RMS) surface potential recorded after the first burn was located 0.26 +/- 0.10 cm from the centroid of the lesion. Potentials recorded after the second lesions were fit with two dipoles that accounted for 99.36 +/- 1.51% of RMS surface potentials and that were located 0.42 +/- 0.26 cm and 0.57 +/- 0.49 cm from the centers of the corresponding burn. Seventy-one percent of computed dipoles were located within the visible perimeter of the burn. Thus, two simultaneously active dipolar sources can be detected and accurately localized by rigorous study of the generated electrical field.