# On the inverse problem of detecting cardiac ischemias: theoretical analysis and numerical reconstruction

## TL;DR

This paper develops theoretical analysis and numerical methods for detecting small inhomogeneities in myocardial tissue, aiding the identification of ischemic regions through boundary potential measurements.

## Contribution

It extends asymptotic formulas for potential perturbations to 3D parabolic problems and introduces a topological gradient-based reconstruction algorithm.

## Key findings

- Asymptotic formula for potential perturbations in 3D parabolic problems.
- Numerical reconstruction algorithm demonstrates robustness.
- Feasibility shown on idealized 3D heart geometry.

## Abstract

In this paper we develop theoretical analysis and numerical reconstruction techniques for the solution of an inverse boundary value problem dealing with the nonlinear, time-dependent monodomain equation, which models the evolution of the electric potential in the myocardial tissue. The goal is the detection of a small inhomogeneity $\omega_\varepsilon$ (where the coefficients of the equation are altered) located inside a domain $\Omega$ starting from observations of the potential on the boundary $\partial \Omega$. Such a problem is related to the detection of myocardial ischemic regions, characterized by severely reduced blood perfusion and consequent lack of electric conductivity. In the first part of the paper we provide an asymptotic formula for electric potential perturbations caused by internal conductivity inhomogeneities of low volume fraction, extending the results published in [7] to the case of three-dimensional, parabolic problems. In the second part we implement a reconstruction procedure based on the topological gradient of a suitable cost functional. Numerical results obtained on an idealized three-dimensional left ventricle geometry for different measurement settings assess the feasibility and robustness of the algorithm.