Spiral waves and rotors: computational and experimental models of cardiac arrhythmias

Spiral waves and rotors have been shown to constitute self-sustaining arrhythmias such as ventricular tachycardia (VT) and fibrillation (VF). An experiment is set up on a slice of cardiac tissue and spiral waves are electrically generated. An analogous model has been created on a super computer using a detailed description of the ion channel currents and membrane voltages and numerical solution of action potential generation and propagation. A voltage sensitive dye is used to image the optical fluorescence resulting from electrical activation of the cardiac tissue. These computational and experimental studies are employed to study the mechanism of induction of arrhythmias and strategies for their termination by defibrillation shock therapy.