Cardiac Deformation from Electro-Anatomical Mapping Data: Application to Scar Characterization A.R. Porras 1 , G. Piella 1 , Oscar C´amara 1 , E. Silva 2 , D. Andreu 2 , A. Berruezo 2 , and A.F. Frangi 1,3 1 CISTIB - Universitat Pompeu i Fabra, CIBER-BBN, Barcelona, Spain 2 Hospital Clinic, IDIBAPS, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 3 Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avanats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain Abstract. We propose in this paper a new way of calculating an en- docardial end-systolic deformation parameter from electro-anatomical data acquired intra-operatively during electrophysiology interventions. The estimated parameter is then used to study deformation in regions with different viability properties: scar, border zone and normal myocar- dial tissue. These regions are defined based on electrophysiological data acquired with a contact mapping system, specifically with the bipolar voltage maps and a set of routinely used thresholds. The obtained results when applying our methodology on a set of 8 cases show statistically sig- nificant differences between the average deformation values of the scar, border zone and normal myocardial tissue areas, thus demonstrating the feasibility of detecting changes in deformation between normal and non-healthy tissue from electro-anatomical maps. Nevertheless, although low deformation regions more often correspond to non-healthy tissue, deformation is not an accurate indicator of viability abnormalities. 1 Introduction Scar presence and its characteristics play a fundamental role in several cardiac pathologies. Most of ventricular tachycardias (VTs) present in patients with ischemia are produced by a re-entrance mechanism associated to the presence of scars [1], which are composed by areas of dense fibrosis that cause a conduction block, as well as other areas of fibrosis where it is possible to find myocardial cells with low-speed conduction [2]. Catheter ablation is an option for recurrent VT treatment. To improve its applicability and effectiveness, a detailed knowledge of the ventricular scar and border zone is required. In addition, it has been proven that scar location, morphology and physiology play an essential role on Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) planning [3]. Several methods have been used to identify the region affected by the scar. Delay-Enhancement Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DE-MRI) allows quantifying the area with fibrosis and its level of transmurality, making it possible to detect and assess the myocardial viability. However, these images are obtained prior to the intervention, being its use for guidance during the ablation procedure hampered. D.N. Metaxas and L. Axel (Eds.): FIMH 2011, LNCS 6666, pp. 47–54, 2011. c  Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011