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Macroscopic Source Descriptions

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Comprehensive Electrocardiology

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1 6.1 Introduction

Throughout the cardiac cycle, the cells of the heart deliver varying amounts of electric current to the surrounding tissues. The effect of these currents at the body’s surface is the production of potentials which change continuously during the course of a heartbeat. In attempting to understand the nature of these body-surface potentials, various models have been postulated. These models describe the electrical sources and the volume conductor in which these sources are embedded, i.e., the human torso.

The computation of the potential distribution at the body surface based on such modeling assumptions is called the “forward problem of electrocardiography” (Chap. 8). Its solution is a prerequisite for the solution of a problem of more direct clinical interest, the so-called “inverse problem of electrocardiography.” By this is meant the study of the electrical state of the heart through analysis of the potentials at the body surface (Chap. 9). Since this problem has...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    A. van Oosterom

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  1. A. van Oosterom
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Peter W. Macfarlane

  2. Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    A. van Oosterom

  3. Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Olle Pahlm

  4. Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Paul Kligfield

  5. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Michiel Janse

  6. St. George's, University of London, London, UK

    John Camm

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van Oosterom, A. (2010). Macroscopic Source Descriptions. In: Macfarlane, P.W., van Oosterom, A., Pahlm, O., Kligfield, P., Janse, M., Camm, J. (eds) Comprehensive Electrocardiology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-046-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-046-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84882-045-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84882-046-3

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