Extraction of intrinsic timing features of cardiac activation from body surface potential maps.

According to previous modeling studies--propagation of depolarizing wave fronts--consists of subintervals, each characterized by a smooth progression of waves through the myocardium. At the onset and end of these intervals, abrupt changes occur in the 3D pattern of activation waves (e.g. at the time of the collision of activation waves with other waves, obstacles or unexcitable myocardium and epicardial breakthrough), which manifest themselves in the surface ECG as "jumps" (high frequency notches and slurs). The timing of jumps provides diagnostic information on bioelectrical tissue properties of the heart. Findings of this study validated previous simulation results. Furthermore, essential signal processing requirements were formulated for a high-resolution body surface potential mapping technology.