An international team of researchers, including the EP Analytics Lab group at the ITACA Institute (UPV), has developed an innovative cardiac mapping tool capable of identifying hidden electrical disturbances.
This technique has proven effective in identifying the anomalous substrate in patients with ventricular tachycardia and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a hereditary disease that can trigger severe ventricular arrhythmias and increase the risk of sudden cardiac death.
In their studies, published in the scientific journal Heart Rhythm, the researchers introduce the Vector Field Heterogeneity (VFH) metric, a new indicator designed to quantify local propagation heterogeneities in the heart’s electrical signals.
“This metric makes it possible to identify sites with abnormal electrical conduction associated with scarring, which in turn may act as critical functional mechanisms, as in the case of ventricular tachycardia (VT). Its implementation in electroanatomical mapping systems would provide a more precise tool for locating these areas”, says Francisco Castells, an ITACA researcher involved in the study.
In this sense, the new technique more clearly reveals where the heart’s electrical problem lies.
“It not only detects abnormalities in scar tissue or in areas critical for the development of arrhythmias, but also uncovers hidden signals in areas that appeared healthy using standard methods. Even in tissue close to damaged areas, which seemed normal, we found electrical disorder that offers a more complete picture of the cardiopathy”, adds José Millet, also a researcher at ITACA.
For all these reasons, the authors highlight that the VFH metric complements current cardiac mapping techniques and could become a useful marker for improving catheter ablation procedures.
“This work represents a step towards more effective treatments, with a direct impact on the survival and quality of life of patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy”, noted the researchers from the UPV research centre.
The Role of ITACA–UPV
Specifically, the EP Analytics Lab group played a key role thanks to its expertise in bioelectromagnetism and advanced biomedical signal processing, successfully translating a complex mathematical concept into a tool with real clinical application.
From ITACA, the participating researchers included Gema Cabero, Elisa Ramírez, Paco Castells, and José Millet, in collaboration with teams from London, Zurich, Madrid, and Granada, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in tackling diseases with a high social and health impact.
Finally, the research team notes the need for studies with larger cohorts and long-term follow-up, as well as the feasibility of implementing the tool in navigation systems to support decision-making during electrophysiological interventions.
REFERENCE
Johanna B Tonko, Samuel Ruipérez-Campillo, Gema Cabero-Vidal, Eva Cabrera-Borrego, Caroline Roney, Juan Jiménez-Jáimez, José Millet, Francisco Castells, Pier D Lambiase.Vector field heterogeneity as a novel omnipolar mapping metric for functional substrate characterization in scar-related ventricular tachycardias. Hearth Rhythm 2025.
https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(24)03531-8/fulltext
Johanna B. Tonko, Gema Cabero-Vidal, Samuel Ruipérez-Campillo, Eva Cabrera-Borrego, Cristina Lozano, Elisa Ramírez, Javier Moreno, Pablo Sánchez-Millán, Anthony Chow, Juan Jiménez-Jáimez, José Millet, Francisco Castells, Pier D. Lambiase.Endo–epicardial electrical disarray in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy with ventricular arrhythmias. Heart Rhythm 2025.
https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(25)02858-9/fulltext