1995 IEEE-EMBC and CMBEC

Theme 1: Cardiovascular System

A NEW METHOD FOR MEASURING MYOCARDIAL CONDUCTIVITIES:

THE PARALLEL ELECTRODES TECHNIQUE
Francisco Trelles, Pierre Savard, Pierre Le Guyader
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique and Research Centre,
Hiipital du Sacr6-Coeur, 5400 west Gouin, Montred, Quebec, Canada, H4J 1C5
Abstract - A theoretical analysis of a new method for the
measurement of passive electrical properties of cardiac
muscle is presented. A pair of parallel line electrodes is
applied over the myocardium. These electrodes inject and
withdraw a sub-threshold sinusoidal current while point
electrodes located in-between, measure the induced
potentials. These potentials are in turn fitted to a
myocardial model to estimate the conductivities. The 3D
current distribution is computed using a 2D model whose
numerical solution is not restricted by the hypothesis of an
equal anisotropy ratio. The cardiac muscle is modeled as a
bidomain and anisotropic milieu and the coupled partial
differential equations are numericaUy solved using a Fast
Fourier Transform algorithm.

ratio of intra- to extracellular conductivities is the same

along the merent axes, which is not always the case [l].
However, it is possible to solve numerically these equations
without this restriction, but fitting the lneasuredpotentials to
a 3D numerical model in order to estimate the myocardial
conductivities is extremely time consuming. This led us to
reduce the dimensionality of the problem. By using two long
parallel electrodes instead of point sources, the 3D current
distribution can be described by a simpler 2D model whose
numerical solution is obtained much more rapidly without
restriction by the equal anisotropy ratio hypothesis. In
addition, the two techniques cited above [2,3]need both
longitudinal and transverse measurements to retrieve the
myocardial conductivities, but this is not absolutely
necessary with the parallel electrodes technique. Finally,
more than a single pair of electrodes can be placed between
the parallel electrodes so as to perform measurements with a
higher spatial resolution as shown in figure 1. In this way,
the fit bemeen the induced potential distribution and the
model may be more precise since spatial and frequency
characteristics of the induced potentials are both taken in
account.

INTRODUCTION
The passive elecuicf properties of the myocardium (intraand extracellular conductivities) play a major role in the
propagation of cardiac activity. Measurement of these
properties are delicate since they are performed with
intracellular electrodes [l]. In order to measure these
properties with extracellular recordings only, Plonsey and
Barr [2] theoretically investigated the four-electrode
technique in which the outermost pair of electrodes supplies
a DC current while the innermost pair measures the induced
voltage difference. By changing the distance between the
electrodes, the conductivities of both the extra- and
intracellular milieus can be estimated. Thus, for a separation
distance between electrodes smaller than the space constant,
current flows only in the interstitial milieu whereas for a
larger distance, part of the current passes through the
membrane and flows into the intracellular milieu. In their
recent experimental study, Le Guyader et al. [3] showed that
instead of changing the electrode distance, it is more
practical to increase the frequency of the injected current in
order to diminish the space constant while keeping the same
small distance between the electrodes. Thus, at lower
frequencies, current flows mainly in the interstitial milieu
whereas at higher frequencies, part of the current is shunted
through the membrane capacitance into the intracellular
milieu. Both of these techniques imply a three-dimensional
current propagation. Analytical solutions to the equations
describing the pptential distribution are hown only if the

0-7803-2475-7/97
$1 0.000 1997 IEEE

Figure 1. Schema of the p d e l electrodesteehniquc

METHOD
In a bidomain .model [2,3],the potential distribution is
govemed by:

a2rpo
g , ~ + & y

i& +-(
Pq

zm

73

d2cD0 . azoo
ay + g o z x =
-4g

(1)

urrent-flow is
sform is used where
sine transform where the potential is zero.

a2q

a2q

g . z + g i * F -LV ay

fJ
--(q
zm

-O0)

The symbols 8.. represent the

index o stands for the interstitial
the
the intracellular
is
applied extracell
ent per unit volume; 2,
the
membrane impedance and P is the surface to
volume ratio. If the parallel electrodes are long enough in
relation to their separation, current in the central part can
only flow perpendicularly to their orientation.
It can be shown that when current electrodes are placed
along an axis XZ, the interstitial potential distribution in a
myocardial tissue with a con
sotropie ratio k=giJgo.
i s given by:
Oo=

(3)'

2nJG(k+l)

where p, =

Jm;
god

gor

,
p=

(4)
(5)

i"".
(6)

P(k+1)
dm is half the distance betwee
line electrodes; Io is
the linear current density appl
is the two-dimension
dirac distribution; xi and xd are the two axes perpendicular to
x ~ .gotand god are respectively the conductivities dong xt and
xd. KOis a modified Bessel function of the second kind and
order zero. Boundary values are set to zero as xi and xd
approaches infinity. This analytical solution was used to
ve@ the numerical method presented below.
From equations (1) and (2) the following equations are
and

v;:=

P fl.- V O )
4a22,(g,u2 c g j v 2 +g,,w2)'

where V, and Vi are respectively the three-dimensional

Fml-ier transform of
and @v Equations ( 8 ) and (9) are
algebraic equations and it is possible to isolate V, as a
function of spatial frequencies U, v, and w without the
assumption of an equal anisotropy ratio. Finally, we can
retrieve @, by applying the inverse Fourier transform to V,.
A FFT algorithm was used to evaluate numerically V, and its
inverse transform. According to boundaq conditions, the

74

In this study, x is the axis of higher conductivities (fiber's

tion). Since passive properties along y and z axes are
to be the same [l], we may say that g,,=gOzand
gi,=g,. The membrane capacitance C
, and the surface to
volume ratio /3 were fixed to l pF and 2000 cm-'respectively.
The rectangular mesh used was 257x129, with a step of
24.80
and dm+.0794 cm. Injected linear

density was 40pAfcm. Voltage values were computed at

Werent frequencies (10 Hz-10 kHz) to simulate six pairs of
equally spaced bipolar electrodes placed between the parallel
electrodes.
tical potentials (3-7) were used to validate the

FFT algorithm (8,9). The maximum relative error found

was less than 1.5%. The bidomain paramete
same as the ones presented in [2].
ince the objective of this tec
to retrieve the
conductivities g,, gOpgr, gs,and the membrane
resistance Rm using the measured potential, the Nelder-Mead
Simplex was used to fit this parameters to the simulated
potentials. Conductivities with and without a constant
anisotropy ratio presented in [l] and [2] were succesfulIy
retrieved in both cases.

CONCLUSION
e results show that it is worthwhile to construct a probe
parallel electrodes
ements. Bidomai
rapidly computed using a
differential equations an
algorithm to fit the modelk
potentials. It is important to U
1 with no constant
conductivitiescould be found.
REFERENCES
Clerc: "Directional DiEerences of Impulse Sp
Trabecular Muscle from Mamalian Heart",J. Physiol.
(London),vol. 255, pp. 335-346, 1976.
] R. Plonsey and R Barr: "The Four-Electrode Resistivity
Technique as Applied to Cardiac Muscle", IEEE Tram.
Biomed. Eng., vol. BME-29, 7, p

. Meunier: "Myocardial Impedance

ents with a Modified Four Electrode
Baltimore,