Three-dimensional computer model of the heart: Fibrillation induced by extrastimulation

✍ Scribed by Nitish V. Thakor; Lawrence N. Eisenman

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 779 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-4809
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-4809(89)90073-6

✦ Synopsis

We present a three-dimensional (3D) computer model that simulates electrical activity in the heart during fibrillation. A real dog heart is discretized to form 1473 interconnected cubic elements. The model exhibits normal activation and recovery from pacing. Five or more extrastimuli induce a self-sustaining tachyarrhythmia that soon degenerates into a fibrillatory rhythm. The extrastimuli increase the excitability of the myocardial cell population. The result is a rapid re-excitation of cells that allows for only a partial recovery of cell action potential. This suggests that a dispersion of refractory states of the cell population is the cause of fibrillation in this computer model.