The paper presents numerical simulation results on the electrical signal propagation in the thoracic volume; the signal source is the cardiac electrical activity, as described by FitzHugh-Nagumo equations. Action potential propagation through an excitable tissue that models the electrical activity of a healthy heart was projected here on the surface of the thoracic wall. 3D thoracic anatomical domain, used in the computational model is built, through reconstruction techniques, from MR scanned images. The result may be useful in investigating normal and pathologic heart conditions in the direct (forward) ElectroCardioGraphic (ECG) problem, and also in solving for inverse ECG related problems, where the knowledge of the transfer matrix (given by the thoracic volume conductor) that projects the epicardial potential to the potential on the thorax is crucial.

Keywords: Action potential, Electrocardiography, Cardiac mapping, Numerical simulation, Finite element