Spiral-wave turbulence and its control in the presence of inhomogeneities in four mathematical models of cardiac tissue.

ABSTRACT: Regular electrical activation waves in cardiac tissue lead to the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the heart that ensures blood supply to the whole body. Irregularities in the propagation of these activation waves can result in cardiac arrhythmias, like ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF), which are major causes of death in the industrialised world. Indeed there is growing consensus that spiral or scroll waves of electrical activation in cardiac tissue are associated with VT, whereas, when these waves break to yield spiral- or scroll-wave turbulence, VT develops into life-threatening VF: in the absence of medical intervention, this makes the heart incapable of pumping blood and a patient dies in roughly two-and-a-half minutes after the initiation of VF. Thus

SUBMITTER: Shajahan TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2650787 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature