Accuracy of electrocardiographic imaging using the method of fundamental solutions

Abstract

Solving the inverse problem of electrocardiology via the Method of Fundamental Solutions has been proposed previously. The advantage of this approach is that it is a meshless method, so it is far easier to implement numerically than many other approaches. However, determining the heart surface potential distribution is still an ill-posed problem and thus requires some form of Tikhonov regularisation to obtain the required distributions.In this study, several methods for determining an “optimal” regularisation parameter are compared in the context of solving the inverse problem of electrocardiology via the Method of Fundamental Solutions. It is found that the Robust Generalised Cross-Validation method most often yields epicardial potential distributions with the least relative error when compared to the input distribution. The study also compares the inverse solutions obtained with the Method of Fundamental Solutions with those obtained in a previous study using the boundary element method. It is found that choosing the best solution methodology and regularisation parameter determination method depends on the particular scenario being considered.