VizCOM: A Novel Tool for Advanced Visualization and Analysis of Cardiac Optical Mapping Data.

Abstract

Cardiac optical mapping is the state of the art used for quantifying cardiac spatiotemporal dynamics, with recent advances enabling high-quality recordings from high-resolution CMOS cameras at relatively low prices ($500). Analyzing the large data sets to extract quantitative information is now a bottleneck. We developed VizCOM, a highly interactive feature-rich Python-based tool for visualizing and analyzing cardiac optical mapping data that works on Windows and MacOS. VizCOM can process very long (minutes) voltage or simultaneous voltage-calcium recordings from various cameras. A mask can be drawn to isolate a region of interest, and the signal from any pixel can be displayed by moving the mouse over the image. Filtering methods available include stacking and baseline drift removal. Activation maps (colors/isochrones) for wave fronts/backs can be displayed. Plots of action potential duration (APD) vs. diastolic interval for all pixels and of APD dispersion across the whole tissue can be shown for each beat, as well as ΔAPD plots for alternans. APD also can be calculated for a line drawn across the tissue to analyze alternans. All values can be saved, including histograms of APD spatial distributions, APD restitutions, and movies of activation sequences. Overall, VizCOM provides comprehensive high-level support for visualization and analysis of cardiac optical-mapping signals.