On the Path of the Excitation Wave in Atrial Flutter

Available data on the arrival times of excitation at various central and peripheral atrial sites during atrial flutter (in a number of dogs and in one patient) have been examined in relation to families of involutes of an arbitrary central obstacle. The degree of fit seems to be satisfactory and is superior to that made for the same data by central-centrifugal (mother-daughter) waves. The latter appear to be an erroneous corollary of the circus movement hypothesis. In contrast, the concept that successive wave fronts of an entrapped circuit wave in atrial flutter may be described by a family of involutes has an appropriate physiological basis in the construction of Huygens, as first suggested by Wiener and Rosenblueth.