# Arrhythmia mapping using electromechanical wave imaging

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $734,031

## Abstract

Arrhythmias refer to the disruption of the natural heart rhythm. This irregular heart
rhythm causes the heart to suddenly stop pumping blood. Atrial pathologies are the most
common arrhythmias with atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter being the most prevalent. The
number of individuals with atrial fibrillation in the United States is expected to reach 12
million by 2050 while atrial flutter, often a result of ablative treatment, is also expected to
rise as more of these treatments are administered. When pharmacological treatment
fails, radiofrequency (RF) ablation is warranted, which currently constitutes a lengthy
procedure with 55% success rate for single treatments. Ventricular arrhythmias such as
ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation denote extremely fast and chaotic
rhythms, respectively, and can cause sudden cardiac death. Arrhythmias also increase
the risk of heart attack, cardiac arrest and stroke. In addition, arrhythmias can develop to
congestive heart failure, i.e., when the heart can no longer produce the expected blood
volume output, for which morbidity and mortality rates remain exceptionally high. Of the
nearly 5 million HF patients affected in the U.S., mortality is at 50% and 75% at 5 and 10
years of diagnosis, respectively (Heart Failure Society of America). This is mainly
because standard HF care such as Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) that aims
at synchronously pacing the ventricles has a failure rate of 50-70% due to lack of reliable
treatment planning. Reliable conduction mapping of the arrhythmic chamber stands to
significantly improve its treatment success. To this end, our group has pioneered
Electromechanical Wave Imaging (EWI) that characterizes the electromechanical
function throughout the four cardiac chambers. In this study, we propose to overcome
current limitations by 1) developing and optimizing parallel beamforming for EWI in all
four chambers and 2) applying and validating EWI for clinical treatment planning and
assessment; more specifically, RF ablation for atrial fibrillation treatment and CRT for
heart failure treatment. Therefore, the hypothesis of this study is that EWI with parallel
beamforming will have increased sensitivity for characterization of atrial and ventricular
arrhythmias for 1) treatment planning and 2) treatment assessment. Should the findings
of the proposed study indicate high reliability of EWI for treatment guidance, this novel
imaging system could be readily applied in a clinical setting as part of a standard
protocol to increase the currently low time efficiency and success rates.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9839673
- **Project number:** 5R01HL140646-03
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Elisa E. Konofagou
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $734,031
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-15 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9839673

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9839673, Arrhythmia mapping using electromechanical wave imaging (5R01HL140646-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9839673. Licensed CC0.

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