The EPICA+ project, led by the COR Group at the ITACA Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de València, together with Corify Care S.L., has completed the first phase in the development of a new technology for the non-invasive characterisation of cardiac arrhythmias.
The initiative, funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación, through the «Generación del Conocimiento 2023″ programme and by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), aims to overcome one of the main limitations of current techniques: observing not only the surface of the heart, but also what is happening inside it.
“Many complex and potentially life-threatening arrhythmias, such as ventricular tachycardia, may originate in deep layers of the heart muscle or on its inner walls. If only the surface is observed or treated, the problem may recur from within”, explains María Guillem, director of ITACA and the project’s principal researcher.
The project has also launched its first newsletter, which outlines progress made during this initial phase and provides other updates
The project has also launched its first newsletter, which outlines progress made during this initial phase and provides other updates.
From surface maps to a 3D view of the heart
Until now, non-invasive electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) could identify arrhythmias with an accuracy of approximately 1–2 centimeters, but was largely limited to the heart’s outer surface. EPICA+ aims to move towards a complete volumetric reconstruction capable of visualising how electrical activity propagates through the intermediate layers of the myocardium.
One of the main milestones achieved has been the generation of more than 100,000 electrophysiological models, providing a working foundation for training and validating the tools developed by the team
To achieve this, the project combines non-invasive electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI), artificial intelligence and digital twins of the heart, with the aim of reconstructing cardiac electrical activity in 3D and enabling the origin of arrhythmias to be located more accurately, both on the surface and in deeper areas of the heart wall.
“One of the main milestones achieved has been the generation of more than 100,000 electrophysiological models, providing a working foundation for training and validating the tools developed by the team”, says Andreu Climent, co-principal investigator of the project.
Clinical validation in Valencia and Barcelona
The 36-month project has begun its clinical validation phase in Valencia and Barcelona, after receiving the relevant ethical approvals.
The first patients undergoing ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia have already been enrolled, bringing recruitment to between 15% and 20% of the overall target of 144 patients
The first patients undergoing ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia have already been enrolled, bringing recruitment to between 15% and 20% of the overall target of 144 patients.
During this phase, the team will compare the information obtained with the new non-invasive tools to the maps used in clinical practice to validate the technology’s ability to locate arrhythmic foci more accurately.
“The added value of EPICA+ lies in its potential to provide clinicians with a kind of cardiac GPS, helping them identify the origin of an arrhythmia more accurately and contributing to more personalised treatments”, says the director of ITACA-UPV.
València will host the ECGI Summit 2026 from 23 to 25 November 2026, under the theme “Rewriting the Rules of Cardiac Mapping”
València, an international meeting point for cardiac mapping
The development of EPICA+ forms part of a research line with a strong international profile. In this context, València will host the ECGI Summit 2026 from 23 to 25 November 2026, under the theme “Rewriting the Rules of Cardiac Mapping”.
Organised by the COR-ITACA Group, the conference will bring together international specialists in cardiac mapping and will also feature the ECGI Community Data Challenge 2026, a scientific hackathon in which teams will be able to test their algorithms using shared datasets.
- First project newsletter: https://www.itaca.upv.es/epica/
This project is funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Spanish State Research Agency), PID2023-149812OB-I00 (EPICA+), and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
