A 3D-CNN with temporal-attention block to predict the recurrence of atrial fibrillation based on body-surface potential mapping signals

Catheter ablation has become an important treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF), but its recurrence rate is still high. The aim of this study was to predict AF recurrence using a three-dimensional (3D) network model based on body-surface potential mapping signals (BSPMs). BSPMs were recorded with a 128-lead vest in 14 persistent AF patients before undergoing catheter ablation (Maze-IV). The torso geometry was acquired and meshed by point cloud technology, and the BSPM was interpolated into the torso geometry by the inverse distance weighted (IDW) method to generate the isopotential map. Experiments show that the isopotential map of BSPMs can reflect the propagation of the electrical wavefronts. The 3D isopotential sequence map was established by combining the spatial–temporal information of the isopotential map; a 3D convolutional neural network (3D-CNN) model with temporal attention was established to predict AF recurrence. Our study proposes a novel attention block that focuses the characteristics of atrial activations to improve sampling accuracy. In our experiment, accuracy (ACC) in the intra-patient evaluation for predicting the recurrence of AF was 99.38%. In the inter-patient evaluation, ACC of 3D-CNN was 81.48%, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.88. It can be concluded that the dynamic rendering of multiple isopotential maps can not only comprehensively display the conduction of cardiac electrical activity on the body surface but also successfully predict the recurrence of AF after CA by using 3D isopotential sequence maps.