Effect of the material properties on modeling of the excitation propagation of the human heart

Accurate modeling of cardiac excitation propagation requires detailed representation of the heart’s anisotropic properties and tissue heterogeneity. Traditional imaging modalities such as CT and MRI fail to capture the fiber orientation essential for modeling the myocardium. This study employs the Monodomain reaction-diffusion equation and integrates Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data to enhance modeling fidelity by accounting for both anisotropic properties and non-uniform conductivity distributions. The proposed method modifies the conductivity tensor using diffusion volume as a proxy for ionic conductivity. Simulation results show significant differences in activation isochrones between isotropic and anisotropic models and between uniform and non-uniform conductivity distributions. These findings emphasize the importance of tissue-specific modeling for realistic cardiac electrophysiology simulations.