System and method for sorting electrophysiological signals on virtual catheters

Abstract

Electrophysiological signals from a graphical representation of an electrophysiology map including a plurality of electrophysiology data points can be sorted by receiving user inputs specifying a number of virtual electrodes for a virtual catheter and defining a pathway of the virtual catheter. A corresponding number of virtual electrodes can be defined on the pathway of the virtual catheter, and one or more electrophysiology data points relevant to electrical activity at the virtual electrodes can be identified, allowing output of a graphical representation of electrophysiological signals corresponding to the identified electrophysiology data points. Relevant electrophysiology data points can be identified by applying one or more relevance criterion, such as a distance criterion, a bipole orientation criterion, a time criterion, and/or a morphology criterion.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of sorting a plurality of electrophysiological signals from a graphical representation of an electrophysiology map generated by an electroanatomical mapping system, the electrophysiology map comprising a plurality of electrophysiology data points, the method comprising:
 receiving, via the electroanatomical mapping system, a user input defining a virtual catheter including a plurality of virtual electrodes;   for each virtual electrode of the plurality of virtual electrodes, the electroanatomical mapping system applying one or more relevance criteria to the plurality of electrophysiology data points to identify no more than one electrophysiology data point that is relevant to electrical activity at the virtual electrode;   for each of the identified electrophysiology data points, the electroanatomical mapping system outputting a graphical representation of an electrophysiological signal associated with the identified electrophysiology data point; and   the electroanatomical mapping system outputting a graphical representation of the virtual catheter, including the plurality of virtual electrodes thereon, on the graphical representation of the electrophysiology map.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein an order in which the electroanatomical mapping system outputs the graphical representations of the electrophysiological signals associated with the identified electrophysiology data points corresponds to a direction of the virtual catheter relative to the graphical representation of the electrophysiology map. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the one or more relevance criteria comprises a distance criterion. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the one or more relevance criteria further comprises one or more of a bipole orientation criterion, a time criterion, and a morphology criterion. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the bipole orientation criterion comprises a preselected angle range measured relative to an orientation of the virtual catheter. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the preselected angle range is between  36  degrees and  40  degrees relative to the orientation of the virtual catheter. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the time criterion comprises time measured from a single time datum. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the time criterion comprises time measured from a recurring time datum. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the morphology criterion comprises a minimum morphology matching score. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the distance criterion comprises a preselected maximum distance from the virtual electrode. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the preselected maximum distance is defined using cylindrical measurements. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the preselected maximum distance is defined using spherical measurements. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the user input defining the virtual catheter including the plurality of virtual electrodes comprises:
 a pathway traced by the user on the graphical representation of the electrophysiology map; and   a specification of a number of virtual electrodes in the plurality of virtual electrodes.   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13 , further comprising the electroanatomical mapping system:
 defining the virtual catheter corresponding to the pathway traced by the user; and   defining the plurality of virtual electrodes corresponding to the number of virtual electrodes specified by the user.   
     
     
         15 . An electroanatomical mapping system for sorting a plurality of electrophysiology signals from a graphical representation of an electrophysiology map including a plurality of electrophysiology data points, the electroanatomical mapping system comprising:
 a sorting and visualization processor configured to:
 receive a user input defining a virtual catheter including a plurality of virtual electrodes; 
 for each virtual electrode of the plurality of virtual electrodes, apply one or more relevance criteria to the plurality of electrophysiology data points to identify no more than one electrophysiology data point that is relevant to electrical activity at the virtual electrode; 
 for each of the identified electrophysiology data points, output a graphical representation of an electrophysiological signal associated with the identified electrophysiology data point; and 
 output a graphical representation of the virtual catheter, including the plurality of virtual electrodes thereon, on the graphical representation of the electrophysiology map. 
   
     
     
         16 . The electroanatomical mapping system according to  claim 15 , wherein the sorting and visualization processor is further configured to output the graphical representations of the electrophysiological signals associated with the identified electrophysiology data points in an order corresponding to a direction of the virtual catheter relative to the graphical representation of the electrophysiology map. 
     
     
         17 . The electroanatomical mapping system according to  claim 15 , wherein the one or more relevance criteria comprises a distance criterion. 
     
     
         18 . The electroanatomical mapping system according to  claim 17 , wherein the one or more relevance criteria further comprises one or more of a bipole orientation criterion, a time criterion, and a morphology criterion. 
     
     
         19 . The electroanatomical mapping system according to  claim 18 , wherein the user input defining the virtual catheter including the plurality of virtual electrodes comprises:
 a user input defining a pathway of the virtual catheter; and   a user input specifying a number of virtual electrodes in the plurality of virtual electrodes.