TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of spiral wave pinning in inhomogeneous active media in the termination of atrial fibrillation by electrical cardioversion
AU - Kuklik, Pawel
AU - Wong, Christopher X.
AU - Brooks, Anthony G.
AU - Jacek Zebrowski, Jan
AU - Sanders, Prashanthan
N1 - Funding Information:
Mr. Wong is supported a student research scholarship from the National Heart Foundation of Australia. Drs Brooks and Sanders are supported by the National Heart Foundation of Australia.
PY - 2010/3
Y1 - 2010/3
N2 - Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia to affect humans. One of the treatment modalities for atrial fibrillation is an electrical cardioversion. Electrical cardioversion can result in one of three outcomes: an immediate termination of arrhythmic activity, a delayed termination or unsuccessful termination. The mechanism of delayed termination is unknown. Here we present a model of an atrial fibrillation as a coexistence of several spiral waves pinned to the inhomogeneities in active media. We show that in inhomogeneous system delayed termination can be explained as the unpinning of a spiral wave from inhomogeneities and its termination after collision with the edge of the system.
AB - Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia to affect humans. One of the treatment modalities for atrial fibrillation is an electrical cardioversion. Electrical cardioversion can result in one of three outcomes: an immediate termination of arrhythmic activity, a delayed termination or unsuccessful termination. The mechanism of delayed termination is unknown. Here we present a model of an atrial fibrillation as a coexistence of several spiral waves pinned to the inhomogeneities in active media. We show that in inhomogeneous system delayed termination can be explained as the unpinning of a spiral wave from inhomogeneities and its termination after collision with the edge of the system.
KW - Arrhythmia mechanisms
KW - Atrial fibrillation
KW - Electrical cardioversion
KW - Excitable media
KW - Spiral wave pinning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77549084551&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2010.02.001
DO - 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2010.02.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 20167311
AN - SCOPUS:77549084551
SN - 0010-4825
VL - 40
SP - 363
EP - 372
JO - Computers in Biology and Medicine
JF - Computers in Biology and Medicine
IS - 3
ER -