Evidence for Determinism in Ventricular Fibrillation

Francis X. Witkowski; Katherine M. Kavanagh; Patricia A. Penkoske; Robert Plonsey; Mark L. Spano; William L. Ditto; Daniel T. Kaplan

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1230

Evidence for Determinism in Ventricular Fibrillation

Francis X. Witkowski, Katherine M. Kavanagh, Patricia A. Penkoske, Robert Plonsey, Mark L. Spano, William L. Ditto, and Daniel T. Kaplan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 1230 – Published 7 August 1995

Abstract

Using a recently formulated technique for in vivo cardiac transmembrane current estimation, we examined ventricular fibrillation for evidence of deterministic linear and nonlinear structure. Both unstable fixed point analysis and a newly formulated measure of nonlinear determinism indicated that ventricular fibrillation in vivo exhibits deterministic dynamics similar to those previously used in chaos control.

Received 9 September 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1230

Authors & Affiliations

Francis X. Witkowski¹, Katherine M. Kavanagh¹, Patricia A. Penkoske¹, Robert Plonsey², Mark L. Spano³, William L. Ditto⁴, and Daniel T. Kaplan⁵

¹University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2R7
²Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708-0281
³Naval Surface Warfare Center, Silver Spring, Maryland 20903
⁴School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332-0430
⁵Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 2Y6