title: Electrophysiological control of ventricular rate during atrial fibrillation.
abstract: Thirteen anesthetized canine subjects (17-29 kg) were used to demonstrate that mild cervical left vagal stimulation could control ventricular rate effectively during atrial fibrillation (AF). Two studies are presented. The first study used six subjects to demonstrate the inverse relationship between (manually applied) left vagal stimulation and ventricular excitation (R wave) rate during AF. As left vagal stimulation frequency was increased, ventricular excitation rate decreased. In these studies, a left vagal stimulus frequency of 0-10 per second reduced the ventricular excitation rate from > 200/min to < 50/min. The decreasing ventricular excitation rate with increasing left vagal stimulation frequency was universal, occurring in all 26 trials with the six subjects. This fundamental principle was used to construct an automatic controller for use in the second study, in which seven subjects were used to demonstrate that ventricular rate can be brought to and maintained within a targeted range with the use of an automatic (closed-loop) controller. A 45-minute record of automatic ventricular rate control is presented. Similar records were obtained in all seven subjects.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906, USA.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Waninger
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bourland
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Geddes
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Schoenlein
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Graber
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Weirich
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Wodicka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D004285:Dogs; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D004867:Equipment Design; D006339:Heart Rate; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*