Myocardial architecture and patient variability in clinical patterns of atrial fibrillation.

ABSTRACT: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of stroke by a factor of 4-5 and is the most common abnormal heart rhythm. The progression of AF with age, from short self-terminating episodes to persistence, varies between individuals and is poorly understood. An inability to understand and predict variation in AF progression has resulted in less patient-specific therapy. Likewise, it has been a challenge to relate the microstructural features of heart muscle tissue (myocardial architecture) with the emergent temporal clinical patterns of AF. We use a simple model of activation wave-front propagation on an anisotropic structure, mimicking heart muscle tissue, to show how variation in AF behavior arises naturally from microstructural differences between individuals. We show that the stochastic

SUBMITTER: Manani KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5068559 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature