A coupled 3D–1D numerical monodomain solver for cardiac electrical activation in the myocardium with detailed Purkinje network

We present a model for the electrophysiology in the heart to handle the electrical propagation through the Purkinje system and in the myocardium, with two-way coupling at the Purkinje–muscle junctions. In both the subproblems the monodomain model is considered, whereas at the junctions a resistor element is included that induces an orthodromic propagation delay from the Purkinje network towards the heart muscle. We prove a sufficient condition for convergence of a fixed-point iterative algorithm to the numerical solution of the coupled problem. Numerical comparison of activation patterns is made with two different combinations of models for the coupled Purkinje network/myocardium system, the eikonal/eikonal and the monodomain/monodomain models. Test cases are investigated for both physiological and pathological activation of a model left ventricle. Finally, we prove the reliability of the monodomain/monodomain coupling on a realistic scenario. Our results underlie the importance of using physiologically realistic Purkinje-trees with propagation solved using the monodomain model for simulating cardiac activation.