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Modelling and Simulation

Working Group 8.41

Publications 8.41

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Article

Title: Reentry near the percolation threshold in a heterogeneous discrete model for cardiac tissue
Author(s): S. Alonso and M. Bär
Journal: Phys. Rev. Lett.
Year: 2013
Volume: 110
Issue: 15
Pages: 158101
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.158101
ISSN: 1079-7114
Web URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25167313
Keywords: Action Potentials,Cardiovascular,Computer Simulation,Heart,Heart: physiology,Models
Tags: 8.41, Herz, 8.43
Abstract: Arrhythmias in cardiac tissue are related to irregular electrical wave propagation in the heart. Cardiac tissue is formed by a discrete cell network, which is often heterogeneous. A localized region with a fraction of nonconducting links surrounded by homogeneous conducting tissue can become a source of reentry and ectopic beats. Extensive simulations in a discrete model of cardiac tissue show that a wave crossing a heterogeneous region of cardiac tissue can disintegrate into irregular patterns, provided the fraction of nonconducting links is close to the percolation threshold of the cell network. The dependence of the reentry probability on this fraction, the system size, and the degree of excitability can be inferred from the size distribution of nonconducting clusters near the percolation threshold.

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