Generalized electrocardiographic spherical shells model with emphasis on the paced infarcted heart

The spherical shells model (SSM) is a useful tool for qualitative investigations of the electrical events in the thorax during a heart beat. This paper presents a scheme to extend the SSM to allow for general dipolar source configurations. A model is suggested to simulate the depolarization phase of a paced ventricular beat, the source being a propagating dipole layer. The computer simulations from the SSM are compared to measured intracavitary potentials from a paced dog heart, and the SSM is shown to reproduce the main features of the experimental data. It is also illustrated how infarctions might affect the signal.