ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the development and application of new technologies in telemedicine to overcome limitations on in-person interactions between patients and doctors. In particular, increased use of computer simulations can help us identify underlying mechanisms for pathologies and which treatments may be best suited for them when in-person appointments are not feasible. For example, long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a cardiac condition that can lead to potentially fatal arrhythmias. One of the most common long QT syndromes, LQT1, causes structural abnormalities of potassium ion channels that in turn reduce certain potassium currents at the cellular level in the heart. In this paper, we use the extracellular-membrane-intracellular (EMI) model to simulate the effects of LQTS. The EMI model resolves the detailed characteristics of individual cell membranes, which is where the affected ion channels are localized, thus making it uniquely suitable for studying such effects. We compare simulations from data from healthy cells, cells that exhibit LQT1 syndrome, and cells that have been treated with a drug to restore healthy heart function. These simulations demonstrate that advances in biomedical engineering combined with computer simulation can enhance the power and applicability of telemedicine well beyond the current state. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.