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Movie
of Atrial Mesh (3.3 MB mpg)
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Atrial
arrhythmias are electrical disturbances in the heart that can
range in severity from annoying to life threatening. The process
of understanding these malformed rhythms must begin with a thorough
comprehension of the normal spread of activation in the human
heart. Although considerable progress has been made in understanding
the process of wavefront propagation and arrythmogenesis in
human atria, technical concerns and issues of patient safety
have limited experimental investigations. This research is focused
on the development of a finite volume based computer model of
human atrial activation and current flow to complement these
studies. Unlike previous representations, the model is three-dimensional,
incorporating both the left and right atria and the major muscle
bundles of the atria, including the crista terminalis, pectinate
muscles, limbus of the fossa ovalis, and Bachmann's bundle.
The bundles are represented as anisotropic structures with fiber
directions aligned with the bundle axes. Conductivities are
assigned to the model to give realistic local conduction velocities
within the bundles and bulk tissue. Owing to both the realistic
geometry and bundle structures, the model is being presently
used for to analyze both the normal activation sequence and
abnormal macroscopic conduction, including flutter. David
Harrild
Funding
for this work comes in part from the National
Science Foundation
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