Resumen: Atrial arrhythmias, and specifically atrial fibrillation (AF), induce rapid and irregular activation patterns that appear on the torso surface as abnormal P-waves in electrocardiograms and body surface potential maps (BSPM). In recent years both P-waves and the BSPM have been used to identify the mechanisms underlying AF, such as localizing ectopic foci or high-frequency rotors. However, the relationship between the activation of the different areas of the atria and the characteristics of the BSPM and P-wave signals are still far from being completely understood. In this work we developed a multi-scale framework, which combines a highly-detailed 3D atrial model and a torso model to study the relationship between atrial activation and surface signals in sinus rhythm. Using this multi scale model, it was revealed that the best places for recording P-waves are the frontal upper right and the frontal and rear left quadrants of the torso. Our results also suggest that only nine regions (of the twenty-one structures in which the atrial surface was divided) make a significant contribution to the BSPM and determine the main P-wave characteristics. Idioma: Inglés DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141573 Año: 2015 Publicado en: PloS one 10, 11 (2015), [29 pp] ISSN: 1932-6203 Factor impacto JCR: 3.057 (2015) Categ. JCR: MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES rank: 11 / 62 = 0.177 (2015) - Q1 - T1 Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.427 - Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous) (Q1)