Abstract
Spiral wave propagation of cardiac excitation (Spiral Reentry) is known to play key role of generating and sustaining tachycardia. Delivering electric shock is the only way of terminating once occurred fatal arrhythmia such as ventricular tachycardia (VT) and fibrillation (VF). For effective and less invasive electric defibrillation therapy, low energy stimulation protocols have been investigated. However, the optimal spatiotemporal pattern of multiple point stimulations toward spiral reentry is not yet investigated in detail. We developed programmable 4 channel stimulator which can deliver stimulations in arbitrary polarity and interval from the electrodes attached to the surface of ventricular wall. Using this simulator, we tried stimulation protocol synchronized with spiral reentry by delivering bi-phasic shocks in front of original spiral wave front. We recorded pre-shock and post-shock excitation using optical mapping system, and the analysis results indicated that synchronized stimulation has potential to control the position of the core of spiral reentry.
