title: Small size ionic heterogeneities in the human heart can attract rotors.
abstract: Rotors occurring in the heart underlie the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias. Answering the question whether or not the location of rotors is related to local properties of cardiac tissue has important practical applications. This is because ablation of rotors has been shown to be an effective way to fight cardiac arrhythmias. In this study, we investigate, in silico, the dynamics of rotors in two-dimensional and in an anatomical model of human ventricles using a Ten Tusscher-Noble-Noble-Panfilov (TNNP) model for ventricular cells. We study the effect of small size ionic heterogeneities, similar to those measured experimentally. It is shown that such heterogeneities cannot only anchor, but can also attract, rotors rotating at a substantial distance from the heterogeneity. This attraction distance depends on the extent of the heterogeneities and can be as large as 5-6 cm in realistic conditions. We conclude that small size ionic heterogeneities can be preferred localization points for rotors and discuss their possible mechanism and value for applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium;
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Defauw
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium;
authors.forename: Nele
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vandersickel
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; and.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dawyndt
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia alexander.panfilov@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Panfilov
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular
keywords: attractors; cardiac arrhythmias; computer modeling; heterogeneity; reentry; rotors