Integrated Intracardiac Ultrasound and Electrical Imaging

Dr. Dirar Khoury

Heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias) result in significant morbidity and mortality. Due to limitations in present catheter mapping techniques, brief, chaotic, or complex arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia cannot be mapped adequately, resulting in unsuccessful elimination of the arrhythmia. Selecting appropriate pharmacological or non-pharmacological therapies to manage cardiac arrhythmias is contingent on developing mapping techniques that identify mechanisms of arrhythmias, localize their sites of origin with respect to underlying cardiac anatomy, and elucidate effects of therapy.

Despite advances in present catheter mapping techniques, true and dynamic three-dimensional imaging during catheterization of important endocardial anatomical structures is not readily integrated, and assumptions must often be made about properties of recorded electrograms in relation to underlying anatomy. Under support from the National Institutes of Health, one of the goals of the research conducted by Dirar Khoury at Baylor College of Medicine is to develop a catheter-based, cardiac electrophysiological imaging technique that simultaneously maps multiple endocardial electrograms on a beat-by-beat basis and combines three-dimensional activation sequences with endocardial anatomy. Dr. Khoury's research in this area stems from original collaboration with scientists at the University of Utah, and is based upon his successful implementation of essential models that permitted validation of fundamental numeric methods as well as prototype electrode-systems and novel accomplishments over the past 10 years in non-contact three-dimensional endocardial mapping of the heartbeat.

One of Dr. Khoury's major interests is in applied research in cardiac electrophysiology with emphasis on developing and validating catheter methods for electrical, anatomical, and hemodynamic imaging of the heart. His Center for Experimental Cardiac Electrophysiology at Baylor College of Medicine provides the research and training environment for investigators to test their innovative ideas in experimental animal models. Dr. Khoury has received several grant awards in support of his research from the Whitaker Foundation, American Heart Association, and National Institutes of Health.