Spatially discordant voltage alternans cause wavebreaks in ventricular fibrillation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is characterized by complex ECG patterns emanating from multiple, short-lived, reentrant electrical waves. The incessant breakup and creation of new daughter waves (wavebreaks) perpetuate VF. Dispersion of refractoriness (static or dynamic) has been implicated as a mechanism underlying wavebreaks.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying wavefront instability in VF by localizing wave fractionation sites (the appearance of multiple waves) and their relationship to local spatial dispersion of voltage (V(m)) oscillations.

Methods

Wave fractionations were identified by tracking V(m) oscillations optically at unprecedented spatial (100 x 100 pixels) and temporal (2,000 frames per second) resol

SUBMITTER: Choi BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2137164 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature