Dynamics of conduction blocks in a model of paced cardiac tissue

Abstract

We study numerically the dynamics of conduction blocks using a detailed electrophysiological model. We find that this dynamics depends critically on the size of the paced region. Small pacing regions lead to stationary conduction blocks while larger pacing regions can lead to conduction blocks that travel periodically towards the pacing region. We show that this size-dependence dynamics can lead to a novel arrhythmogenic mechanism. Furthermore, we show that the essential phenomena can be captured in a much simpler coupled-map model.

8 pages 6 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Multiple mechanisms of spiral wave breakup in a model of cardiac electrical activity
• Instability and Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Alternans in Paced Cardiac Tissue
• The role of M cells and the long QT syndrome in cardiac arrhythmias: simulation studies of reentrant excitations using a detailed electrophysiological model

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Amplitude equation approach to spatiotemporal dynamics of cardiac alternans
• A normal form for excitable media
• Bifurcation analysis of a normal form for excitable media: Are stable dynamical alternans on a ring possible?