Software for Interactive Studies of Arrhythmias in 3D on a PC; Example Using the Beeler-Reuter Model on a 3D Rabbit Ventricles.

Abouzar Kaboudian1, Elizabeth cherry2, flavio fenton3
1Georgia Institute of Technology, 2rit, 3georgia tech


Abstract

Aims: Graphic processing units on PCs can solve several billion of equations per second, thus acting as a local supercomputer. We aim to exploit this and present a program that can run 3D simulations of complex cardiac cell models, in real time and interactively on a PC for anyone to use. Method: We use a library we have developed “Abubu.js” to create a program that runs on a local PC’s GPU. This program allows interaction with the heart by rotating it and by stimulation, using the mouse, on any point on the tissue and allows the user to change all model parameters on the fly. Results: The program presented, simulates the Beeler-Reuter model on 3D rabbit ventricles discretized at 150microns, on a PC at speeds close to real time. The heart can be stimulated at any time to initiate reentrant waves. The model’s action potential (from any site in the tissue) is displayed in time as well as the different ion currents. Model parameters can be varied, to study their effects on tissue dynamics. For example, low calcium can be simulated, resulting in stable spiral waves, as well as the effect of drugs that block particular currents. A scar can be loaded to study anatomical reentry. Similarly the effect of pacing, such as ATP (anti-tachycardia pacing) can be simulated by a periodic stimulation somewhere in the ventricular structure. Conclusions: We present a software that is independent of operating system and requires no compilation. The program runs on a web-browser by just clicking on the link we provide. The user can then study the dynamics of the Beeler-Reuter model on the 3D rabbit structure as a function of the model parameters in real time. This code, can also be saved locally and modified, to solve other more complex and modern models.