Dielectric Properties Model of the Left Atrium and Left Atrial Appendage for Applications in Cardiac Ablation

Accurate dielectric models for cardiac tissue are key to the design of improved cardiac ablation devices. Historically, the heart has been largely treated as a homogeneous organ in a majority of dielectric studies. However, a recent study has demonstrated the organ to be dielectrically heterogeneous. Debye models for specific heart regions could be used to improve frequency-dependent computational models of the heart. Our focus in this study is on left atrium (LA) and left atrial appendage (LAA), since these structures are often the target of ablation when performing pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) and LAA isolation procedures for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Therefore in this work we conducted an analysis of the dielectric properties of the left atrium and left atrium appendage. The goal was to calculate the optimal parameters of a three-pole Debye model for these two important regions of the heart.