This computational study identifies a self-sustaining process responsible for maintaining spiral chaos, providing theoretical insights into the mechanisms of complex cardiac arrhythmias.
May inform computational models of arrhythmias; leaves open whether targeting this process affects dynamics in vivo.
This paper investigates the properties of unstable single-spiral wave solutions arising in the Karma model of two-dimensional cardiac tissue. In particular, we discuss how such solutions can be computed numerically on domains of arbitrary shape and study how their stability, rotational frequency, and spatial drift depend on the size of the domain as well as the position of the spiral core with respect to the boundaries. We also discuss how the breaking of local Euclidean symmetry due to finite size effects as well as the spatial discretization of the model is reflected in the structure and dynamics of spiral waves. This analysis allows identification of a self-sustaining process responsible for maintaining the state of spiral chaos featuring multiple interacting spirals.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
A 2015 study studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 4 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: