Going around phase defects: Addressing a fundamental flaw of phase singularity detection
- 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
- 2Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
- 3Department of Cardiology, AZ Sint-Jan Brugge, Bruges, Belgium.
Abstract
Phase mapping is a widespread method for identifying rotational electrical activity sustaining cardiac arrhythmias. However, conventional implementations assume that the cardiac phase map is continuous, leading to ill-defined phase indices in regions affected by functional conduction block, fibrosis, or anatomical boundaries. These regions of discontinuous or undefined phase, termed phase defects, lead to both false positive and false negative detections of rotational drivers. This work introduces an improved phase mapping implementation termed extended phase mapping that explicitly detects and accounts for phase defects, enabling robust calculation of the phase index around them. Extended phase mapping is applied to (1) simulated excitation patterns using the Fenton–Karma model, (2) experimental optical mapping data of rat ventricular fibrillation, and (3) a clinical CARTO activation map of atrial tachycardia. Across all datasets, the extended approach eliminates erroneous detections and resolves previously missed rotations. Our results demonstrate that proper treatment of phase defects yields a unified and physiologically consistent characterization of all rotational drivers including near-complete and anatomical reentries. Therefore, we propose that explicitly accounting for phase defects, rather than tracking singular points alone, gives a more complete and consistent characterization of rotational dynamics in cardiac tissue. Author summary: Detecting rotating electrical activity in the heart is crucial for understanding and treating abnormal heart rhythms. A common method, phase mapping, assigns a timing phase to each region of the heart to identify these rotations. However, in regions affected by scars, blocked conduction, or anatomical boundaries, the phase can become undefined or discontinuous. These so-called phase defects make current methods unreliable, causing false detections or missed rotations. In this study, we introduce an extended method that explicitly identifies phase defects and calculates phase indices around them. We test this approach using computer simulations, experimental recordings from animal hearts, and clinical heart-mapping data. Across all datasets, it eliminates false detections and reveals previously overlooked rotational activity. By properly accounting for phase defects, the extended phase mapping method provides a more reliable and complete characterization of heart rhythms, offering a physiologically meaningful framework for studying electrical dynamics in cardiac tissue.
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BibTeX
@article{verstraeten2026going,
title = {{Going around phase defects: Addressing a fundamental flaw of phase singularity detection}},
author = {Bjorn Verstraeten and Sebastiaan Lootens and Robin Van Den Abeele and Viktor Van Nieuwenhuize and Arstanbek Okenov and Sander Hendrickx and Arthur Santos Bezerra and Timur Nezlobinskii and Vineesh Kappadan and Balvinder Singh Handa and Fu Siong Ng and Mattias Duytschaever and Nele Vandersickel},
journal = {PLOS Computational Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013963},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013963},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Going around phase defects: Addressing a fundamental flaw of phase singularity detection
AU - Bjorn Verstraeten
AU - Sebastiaan Lootens
AU - Robin Van Den Abeele
AU - Viktor Van Nieuwenhuize
AU - Arstanbek Okenov
AU - Sander Hendrickx
AU - Arthur Santos Bezerra
AU - Timur Nezlobinskii
AU - Vineesh Kappadan
AU - Balvinder Singh Handa
AU - Fu Siong Ng
AU - Mattias Duytschaever
AU - Nele Vandersickel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - PLOS Computational Biology
DO - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013963
UR - https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013963
AB - Phase mapping is a widespread method for identifying rotational electrical activity sustaining cardiac arrhythmias. However, conventional implementations assume that the cardiac phase map is continuous, leading to ill-defined phase indices in regions affected by functional conduction block, fibrosis, or anatomical boundaries. These regions of discontinuous or undefined phase, termed phase defects, lead to both false positive and false negative detections of rotational drivers. This work introduces an improved phase mapping implementation termed extended phase mapping that explicitly detects and accounts for phase defects, enabling robust calculation of the phase index around them. Extended phase mapping is applied to (1) simulated excitation patterns using the Fenton–Karma model, (2) experimental optical mapping data of rat ventricular fibrillation, and (3) a clinical CARTO activation map of atrial tachycardia. Across all datasets, the extended approach eliminates erroneous detections and resolves previously missed rotations. Our results demonstrate that proper treatment of phase defects yields a unified and physiologically consistent characterization of all rotational drivers including near-complete and anatomical reentries. Therefore, we propose that explicitly accounting for phase defects, rather than tracking singular points alone, gives a more complete and consistent characterization of rotational dynamics in cardiac tissue. Author summary: Detecting rotating electrical activity in the heart is crucial for understanding and treating abnormal heart rhythms. A common method, phase mapping, assigns a timing phase to each region of the heart to identify these rotations. However, in regions affected by scars, blocked conduction, or anatomical boundaries, the phase can become undefined or discontinuous. These so-called phase defects make current methods unreliable, causing false detections or missed rotations. In this study, we introduce an extended method that explicitly identifies phase defects and calculates phase indices around them. We test this approach using computer simulations, experimental recordings from animal hearts, and clinical heart-mapping data. Across all datasets, it eliminates false detections and reveals previously overlooked rotational activity. By properly accounting for phase defects, the extended phase mapping method provides a more reliable and complete characterization of heart rhythms, offering a physiologically meaningful framework for studying electrical dynamics in cardiac tissue.
SN - 1553-7358
SN - 1553-734X
ER -