M.Sc. Silvia Becker

B.Sc. Melis Altiokka

Motivation
Atrial cardiomyopathy (AtCM) is associated with slow-conducting, low-voltage areas that result in prolonged total atrial conduction time. Jadidi et al. demonstrated a strong correlation between total atrial conduction time and amplified P-wave (APW) duration.
Furthermore, APW morphology has been shown to aid in the staging of AtCM. In this work, we focus on the late P pattern, a morphology characterized by a second P-wave component separated from the initial wave by an isoelectric interval. This pattern is predominantly observed in patients with markedly prolonged APW duration and advanced stages of AtCM.
Despite its clinical relevance, the underlying electrophysiological mechanisms and conduction pathways responsible for the late P pattern remain poorly understood. A better understanding of these mechanisms may provide further insights into atrial substrate remodeling and improve non-invasive assessment of disease severity.

Research Project
The central research question of this project is: Can late P patterns observed in ECG recordings be reproduced in electrophysiological simulations based on electroanatomical mapping data?
The aim of this work is to investigate electroanatomical maps from patients exhibiting a late P pattern and to identify the underlying conduction characteristics. Based on these findings, patient-specific electrophysiological simulations will be performed using openCARP to reproduce and better understand the observed ECG morphology.
The project will be carried out in two stages:

1. Analysis of electroanatomical mapping data: Electroanatomical maps acquired at the University Heart Center Freiburg–Bad Krozingen will be analyzed to identify conduction patterns associated with the occurrence of late P patterns.
2. Cardiac electrophysiology simulations: Electrophysiological simulations will be conducted using open- CARP to investigate whether the identified conduction patterns can reproduce the observed late P-wave morphology.