Noninvasive reconstruction of cardiac electrical activity: Mathematical innovation, in vivo validation and human application

Cardiac arrhythmias can cause serious symptoms and can even be life-threatening. Electrical activity of the heart can be evaluated by performing an electrocardiogram (ECG). This dissertation describes the development, validation and application of and the improvements to electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI). This is a new technique in which three-dimensional images of the electrical activity of a patient’s beating heart are obtained without the necessity of internal measurements. This dissertation describes how mathematical improvements result in more accurate outcomes, and how this technique substantially contributes to the diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias in patients.