Computationally efficient cardiac bioelectricity models toward whole-heart simulation

This work studies the characteristics of excitable cell mathematical models, with the goal of developing new insights and techniques in simulating the electrical behavior of the human heart. While very simple models of such behavior can be simulated at real-time or better speeds on powerful computing equipment, the use of realistic cell models or organ-magnitude cell networks make the simulations computationally infeasible. We present an examination of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model and its response to stimulus and, in order to move toward the goal of a full cardiac simulation, we present a method of optimizing single-cell calculations through local interpolation techniques. Additionally, we introduce a separate method of optimizing multicell simulations by tracking cellular activations.