title: Continuous-time control of alternans in long Purkinje fibers.
abstract: Alternans-an arrhythmic response of cardiac tissue to periodic pacing-often serves as a precursor to a more dangerous, and potentially lethal, state of fibrillation. Suppression of alternans using feedback control may be a plausible method to prevent fibrillation. Several approaches based on impulsive control have been proposed previously, where feedback is applied for a brief instance of time during each pacing interval. This paper presents a continuous-time approach, where feedback current is applied at all times, which is capable of suppressing alternans in fibers of significantly greater length (up to at least 4 cm), compared with impulsive control (less than 1 cm), and for a wide range of pacing cycle lengths.
authors.affiliation: School of Exact Sciences and Engineering, Universidad Sergio Arboleda, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garzón
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0430, USA.
authors.forename: Roman O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Grigoriev
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0430, USA.
authors.forename: Flavio H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Fenton
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D008959:Models, Neurological; D011690:Purkinje Fibers / Q000503:physiopathology*