Resetting and Annihilation of Reentrant Abnormally Rapid Heartbeat

Abstract
Excitable media support circulating waves on a one-dimensional ring. Continuity arguments, developed originally for resetting limit cycle oscillations in finite-dimensional dynamical systems, suggest that there must exist a range of phases and amplitudes for perturbations of the reentrant wave that lead to its annihilation. The annihilation is illustrated in the Fitzhugh-Nagumo equation of excitable media. This phenomenon is related to clinical studies in which reentrant waves in the human heart are reset or annihilated by electrical stimulation delivered directly to the heart.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: