Calibration of Atrial Fibrillation Digital Twins with Electrocardiographic Imaging

Maider Gasca Pérez1, Marí­a Termenón Rivas2, Giada Sira Romitti2, Duna De Luis Moura1, Nicasio Pérez Castellano3, David Calvo Cuervo4, Alejandro Liberos5, Miguel Rodrigo6
1CommLab, Universidad de Valencia, 2CoMMLab, Universitat de València, 3Arrhythmia Unit at Hospital Clínico San Carlos, 4Arrhythmia Unit, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, CiberCV, Spain, 5Universitat de València, 6Universitat de València


Abstract

Digital Twins (DTs) of atrial fibrillation (AF) offer a promising framework for selecting personalized ablation strategies, but their calibration to patient-specific electrophysiological activity remains challenging.

In this work, ECGI-derived dominant frequency (DF) maps were used to compute cycle length (CL) distributions in 4 patients. These maps were integrated into patient-specific left atrial models and used to calibrate spatially heterogeneous electrophysiological remodeling. Personalized DTs were then simulated using a rapid pacing protocol to induce AF, and two ablation strategies (pulmonary veins isolation (PVI) and Dominant Frequency Adenosine Stability Index (DFASI-guided) were evaluated.

Simulated CL maps showed good agreement with ECGI-derived maps, with mean absolute errors ranging from 8 ms to 48 ms and 99% of nodes below 50 ms error. AF was induced and maintained in all patients, enabling the identification of arrhythmogenic regions. DFASI-guided ablation resulted in 0% inducibility of atrial arrhythmias, compared to 33% in the non-ablation scenario and 50% for PVI.

This study presents a methodology to calibrate AF DT using ECGI-derived biomarkers and evaluate ablation strategies in silico. The proposed framework enables non-invasive, patient-specific therapy planning and may improve the identification of optimal ablation targets.