Tissue Anisotropy and Re-entry in the Heart

Acknowledgements

Outline

Two Simple Questions

Simple Unanswered Questions

Simple Unanswered Questions, con't

Models of Cardiac Activity

How do you Relate the Kinetics of...

The Problems of Scale: Numerical Models

How do you describe the propagation of electrical activity through the entire heart?

The Uniform Double-Layer Model

What are the effects of electrical anisotropy of cardiac tissue?

Cardiac Anisotropy

Cardiac Fibers as One-Dimensional Cables

Bidomain Models

Phenomena unique to the cardiac bidomain with unequal intracellular and extracellular anisotropies

Phenomena unique to the cardiac bidomain with unequal intracellular and extracellular anisotropies, con't

Prediction

What factors affect the initiation of propagated cardiac activation?

Definition

Prediction

Prediction

Long-Standing Puzzle

Prediction

What cellular factors govern spiral wave re-entry?

Prediction

The Problem of Defibrillation

Possible Answers

Prediction

The Challenges