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SUMMARY:Tissue-specific models of electrical activity in the heart: Multi-
 scale and Multi-dimensional approaches - Smaill\, B (Auckland)
DTSTART:20090723T094500Z
DTEND:20090723T100000Z
UID:TALK19182@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
DESCRIPTION:There is strong experimental and theoretical evidence that str
 uctural discontinuity and the material orthotropy that results from it aff
 ect the 3D spread of electrical activity in the heart. This behaviour shou
 ld be accounted for accurately in cardiac activation models. However\, in 
 order to do so\, it is necessary to incorporate 3D structural detail at a 
 scale that imposes considerable computational overheads. As a result\, the
  use of detailed\, tissue-specific 3D models can prove to be intractable i
 n studies of reentrant arrhythmia where it is necessary to model repeated 
 cycles of electrical activation. Alternative approaches here include the d
 evelopment of realistic higher order descriptions of 3D electrical propert
 ies or the use of 2D models that capture key features of 3D structure and 
 electrical behaviour. The use of these approaches to investigate the contr
 ibutions of structural discontinuity to normal electrical propagation and 
 to reentrant activation in the right atrium and in the border zone surroun
 ding a myocardial infarct will be outlined. The extent to which structural
  discontinuities provides a substrate for inactivation across the excitabl
 e gap when defibrillation strength shocks are applied during reentrant arr
 hythmia will also be considered. 
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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