Suppress Winfree turbulence by local forcing excitable systems

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 May 13;94(18):188301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.188301. Epub 2005 May 12.

Abstract

The occurrence of Winfree turbulence is currently regarded as one of the principal mechanisms underlying cardiac fibrillation. We develop a local stimulation method that suppresses Winfree turbulence in three-dimensional excitable media. We find that Winfree turbulence can be effectively suppressed by locally injecting periodic signals to only a very small subset (around some surface region) of total space sites. Our method for the first time demonstrates the effectiveness of local low-amplitude periodic excitations in suppressing turbulence in 3D excitable media and has fundamental improvements in efficiency, convenience, and turbulence suppression speed compared with previous strategies. Therefore, it has great potential for developing into a practical low-amplitude defibrillation approach.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Computer Simulation
  • Electric Countershock / methods
  • Electromagnetic Fields*
  • Heart Conduction System / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological*
  • Models, Neurological*
  • Nonlinear Dynamics*
  • Synaptic Transmission / physiology*