Cardiac spiral wave drifting due to spatial temperature gradients – A numerical study

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, affecting more than 10% of the elderly population [1]. AF is characterized by rapid and irregular activation of the atrium, and is often the result of fibrillatory conduction maintained by the existence of one or few organized "mother rotors", or alternatively by the existence of focal ectopic sources, [2,3]. Pharmacological treatment for AF includes antiarrhythmic drugs that are either rate or rhythm control. These effects are achieved by various ionic mechanisms altering the electrophysiological properties of the membrane voltage at either depolarization or repolarization phases, e.g., by reducing cellular excitability, or by increasing the refractory period.
Source: Medical Engineering and Physics - Category: Biomedical Engineering Authors: Source Type: research