Developing an Iterative Tracking Algorithm to Guide a Catheter Towards Atrial Fibrillation Rotor Sources in Simulated Fibrotic Tissue

Locating atrial fibrillation (AF) rotor sources can help target ablation therapy for AF. Our aim was to develop a catheter-tracking algorithm to locate AF rotor sources using a conventional 20-electrode circular catheter. We simulated rotor-driven arrhythmias in homogeneous and fibrotic human atrial tissue and evaluated the algorithm for different initial catheter positions. The algorithm guided and detected a rotor with a success rate of greater than 97.9% independently of the initial position of the catheter with an accuracy of greater than 2.3 ± 1.4 mm.