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It is intended to serve as a research tool for those that are interested to test any hypothesis they may have regarding the manifestation of cardiac malfunctioning in the electrocardiographic wave forms on the thorax.
Another objective is to serve as a teaching tool to be used for students of the basic aspects of electrocardiography.
Please note: Any diagnostic application is only indirect; ecgsim provides a forward simulation and does not solve the inverse problem.
From a default, specified timing of depolarization and repolarization of the transmembrane potentials on the heart surface, the closed surface bounding ventricular mass, i.e., endocardium, epicardium and their connection at the base of the ventricles, QRST wave forms are simulated that are closely identical to the provided set of reference signals recorded in a healthy subject. Temporal (waveforms) as well as spatial (body surface potential maps) can be inspected. By default a uniform magnitude of the upstroke of the transmembrane potentials is used.
The program allows the interactive changing of the timing of depolarization and repolarization as well as the magnitude of the upstroke of the local transmembrane potentials. The former allows one to study the effect of changers in local timing, the latter allows one to study the manifestation of local ischemic regions in the body surface potentials.
The cardiac equivalent generator involved is the distribution on the heart surface of the local transmembrane potential. The transfer, following the laws of current flow in an inhomogeneous torso model based on MRI data, is used to determine the expression of the cardiac electric generator in body surface potentials.
The theory used has been developed over the last 30 years, about 20 years of which at the Department of Medical Physics of the University of Nijmegen. The simulation package has had two predecessors. The current version has been inspired by the enthusiastic comments of the users to which these earlier versions have been made available.
The theory behind ecgsim is explained in the papers listed in the reference list.
The package is currently developed to greater perfection. Recent updates will be available from www.ecgsim.org. You can determine the version you are currently working with by choosing About ecgsim in the Help menu.
Any comments and suggestions for improvements will be greatly appreciated.
Please send your comments by e-mail to
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Thom Oostendorp
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