Auricular Fibrillation: Relationship of ‘Vulnerable Period’ to ‘Dip’ Phenomenon of Auricular Excitability Curve

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
By testing the response of the dog''s auricle to testing stimuli of graded strengths an association was demonstrated between the occurrence of vulnerability to fibrillation and asymmetries in the progression of normal recovery in the auricle. Vulnerability coincides with the major dip area of the excitability-recovery curve of the dog''s auricle. The interval during which the disappearance phenomenon can be elicited tends to precede and overlap the period of vulnerability. Coincidence of vulnerability with the dip is thought to occur because: (1) Long-lasting excitatory states are more easily created then than later in the cycle, and (2) the uniform progres-sion and termination of activity thus started is interfered with by the subsequent regression of excitability. This conceivably results in repetitive or fragmentary discharges and fibrillation.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: