BME Seminar Series: Dr. Alena Talkachova, University of Minnesota

Alena Talkachova, PhD
Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Minnesota

Abstract:

"Detection AF drivers for Mapping-Specific Ablation Therapy"

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is most common cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with increased risk of stroke, heart failure and sudden cardiac death. Catheter ablation is one common treatment approach used to control AF, but it has limited success rates, especially in patients with persistent AF. No existing commercial electro-anatomical mapping systems have been demonstrated to consistently and accurately predict the location of AF drivers, a possible AF ablation targets, especially outside of the pulmonary veins. In my talk, I will discuss drawbacks of current electro-anatomical mapping systems, which limit their ability to successfully incorporate various approaches for identification of potential targets for AF ablation. I will present several new approaches we adapted and validated in our lab (frequency, information, and statistic based) approaches that can be potentially used to uncover the intrinsic complexity of the electrical activity and to identify the location of AF drivers under different clinical scenarios: in the presence of noise, scar, and for the case of the Multielectrode Multispline and Grid catheters.  I will also present our recently developed open-source software for 3D visualization of potential drivers during AF in patients, which in combination with our approaches might provide a great advance for identification of potential targets for mapping specific AF ablation.

Bio:

Alena Talkachova obtained MS in Theoretical Physics from Belarussian State University and PhD in Laser Physics from Nice University, France. She also received postdoctoral trainings in cardiac electrophysiology from Duke University and SUNY Upstate Medical University, USA. Currently, she is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and her laboratory combines a wide spectrum of experimental techniques, signal processing approaches and numerical simulations to study complex electrical activity the heart, leading to arrhythmias and subsequently, to sudden cardiac death. She also investigates the use of neuromodulation for treatment of metabolic and cardiac diseases. Dr. Talkachova is the author and coauthor of over 60 publications, over 100 conference presentations, several patents, and she serves on the editorial board of 5 journals.