The Electrical Bidomain Model: A Review

Bidomain model is a mathematical representation of the anisotropic electrical properties of cardiac tissue. It is used to simulate cardiac electrical tissue computationally and to study the stimulation of cardiac tissue and defibrillation of the heart. The model is developed using realistic physiological parameter values based on experimental measurement. The first part of this review describes the brief history and development of the bidomain model followed by the formulation of the bidomain equations. The third part of this review presents under what conditions the bidomain model reduces to the monodomain model and discusses its advantages and limitations over the bidomain model. The influence of boundary conditions at the interface between cardiac tissue and an adjacent conductor is described in the fourth part. In the fifth part the properties of cardiac tissue and its relation to conductivity tensors are presented. The bidomain model has successfully predicted many effects of electrical stimulation of the heart. Its limitations and the validity of its predictions to measurements obtained mostly using optical mapping are described in subsequent sections.