A catheter includes: (a) a shaft for insertion into a heart of a patient, (b) an expandable distal-end assembly, which is coupled to the shaft and is configured to make contact with tissue of the heart, (c) at least first and second electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes, which are coupled to an outer surface of the expandable distal-end assembly, and when placed in contact with the tissue, are configured to sense ECG signals in the tissue, and (d) a reference electrode, which is positioned within an inner volume of the distal-end assembly, and in an expanded position of the distal-end assembly, the reference electrode: (i) has no physical contact with the tissue, and (ii) is positioned at a first distance from the first ECG electrode and at a second distance from the second ECG electrode, and the difference between the first and second distances is smaller than a predefined threshold.

Systems are provided for generating data representing electromagnetic states of a heart for medical, scientific, research, and/or engineering purposes. The systems generate the data based on source configurations such as dimensions of, and scar or fibrosis or pro-arrhythmic substrate location within, a heart and a computational model of the electromagnetic output of the heart. The systems may dynamically generate the source configurations to provide representative source configurations that may be found in a population. For each source configuration of the electromagnetic source, the systems run a simulation of the functioning of the heart to generate modeled electromagnetic output (e.g., an electromagnetic mesh for each simulation step with a voltage at each point of the electromagnetic mesh) for that source configuration. The systems may generate a cardiogram for each source configuration from the modeled electromagnetic output of that source configuration for use in predicting the source location of an arrhythmia.

A method includes, inserting a catheter into a cavity of a patient organ for performing a medical procedure, the cavity is of a given cavity type. A partial anatomical mapping of the cavity is performed by visiting one or more anatomical points on a surface of the cavity, using the catheter. Based on the partial anatomical mapping, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) template is selected, which is specified for applying the medical procedure to the given cavity type. The selected GUI template is presented to a user for performing the medical procedure in the cavity.

An animated electrophysiology map is generated from a plurality of data points, each including measured electrophysiology information, location information, and timing information. The electrophysiology and location information can be used to generate the electrophysiology map, such as a local activation time, peak-to-peak voltage, or fractionation map. Animated timing markers can be superimposed upon the electrophysiology map using the electrophysiology, location, and timing information. For example a series of frames can be displayed sequentially, each including a static image of the electrophysiology map at a point in time and timing markers corresponding to the state or position of an activation wavefront at the point in time superimposed thereon. The visibility or opacity of the timing markers can be adjusted from frame to frame, dependent upon a distance between the timing marker and the activation wavefront, to give the illusion that the timing markers are moving along the electrophysiology map.

A medical display processing device and a method of reusing data includes acquiring, over time via electrodes, electrical signals each acquired via one of the electrodes and indicating electrical activity at a location of a portion of patient anatomy in a 3D space. Electrical signal data, corresponding to the electrical signals, is filtered according to first filter parameter settings and first mapping information is generated for displaying a map of the portion of patient anatomy and the filtered electrical signal data. An indication of a region of the portion of patient anatomy on the map is received and second mapping information is generated for displaying, at the region on the map, a portion of the electrical signal data previously filtered from display.

A method includes receiving a plurality of data points including electrical activation (EA) values measured at respective positions in at least a portion of a surface of a cardiac chamber of a heart of a patient. Using a predefined EA value criterion, the EA values in a given region of the cardiac surface are classified into multiple distinct EA wave-fronts, and multiple layers of EA values are calculated for the given region, wherein each EA layer includes the EA values found to belong to a respective and contiguous EA wave-front. The multiple EA layers are overlayed on a graphical representation of the surface. The graphical representation with the multiple overlaid EA layers is displayed to a user, with a graphical indication distinguishing between the multiple EA layers.

An animated electrophysiology map is generated from a plurality of data points, each including measured electrophysiology information, location information, and timing information. The electrophysiology and location information can be used to generate the electrophysiology map, such as a local activation time, peak-to-peak voltage, or fractionation map. Animated timing markers can be superimposed upon the electrophysiology map using the electrophysiology, location, and timing information. For example a series of frames can be displayed sequentially, each including a static image of the electrophysiology map at a point in time and timing markers corresponding to the state or position of an activation wavefront at the point in time superimposed thereon. The visibility or opacity of the timing markers can be adjusted from frame to frame, dependent upon a distance between the timing marker and the activation wavefront, to give the illusion that the timing markers are moving along the electrophysiology map.

In one exemplary mode, a medical system includes a catheter to be inserted into a chamber of a heart of a living subject, and including a distal end including catheter electrodes to contact tissue at respective locations within the chamber of the heart, at least one position sensor to provide at least one position signal indicative of at least one position of the distal end, a display, and processing circuitry to assess respective qualities of contact of the catheter electrodes with the tissue, compute positions of respective ones of the catheter electrodes responsively to the at least one position signal, generate a 3D anatomical map of at least part of the chamber of the heart responsively to the assessed respective qualities of contact and the computed positions of the respective ones of the catheter electrodes and render to the display the generated 3D anatomical map.

In one exemplary mode, a medical system includes a catheter to be inserted into a chamber of a heart of a living subject, and including a distal end including catheter electrodes to contact tissue at respective locations within the chamber of the heart, at least one position sensor to provide at least one position signal indicative of at least one position of the distal end, a display, and processing circuitry to assess respective qualities of contact of the catheter electrodes with the tissue, compute positions of respective ones of the catheter electrodes responsively to the at least one position signal, generate a 3D anatomical map of at least part of the chamber of the heart responsively to the assessed respective qualities of contact and the computed positions of the respective ones of the catheter electrodes and render to the display the generated 3D anatomical map.

In one embodiment, a medical system includes a catheter configured to be inserted into a chamber of a heart of a living subject, and including multiple electrodes configured to capture electrical activity from electrical activation signals propagating in tissue of the chamber, a display, and processing circuitry configured to automatically select bipolar signals to be captured into an electro-anatomical map from respective electrode pairs of the multiple electrodes responsively to an alignment of the respective electrode pairs with a direction of propagation of the electrical activation signals, and render the electro-anatomical map to the display.