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Line-defect patterns of unstable spiral waves in cardiac tissue

Juan G. Restrepo and Alain Karma
Phys. Rev. E 79, 030906(R) – Published 30 March 2009

Abstract

Spiral wave propagation in period-2 excitable media is accompanied by line defects, the locus of points with period-1 oscillations. Here we investigate spiral line defects in cardiac tissue where period-2 behavior has a known arrhythmogenic role. We find that the number of line defects, which is constrained to be an odd integer, is 3 for a freely rotating spiral, with and without meander, but 1 for a spiral anchored around a fixed heterogeneity. We interpret this finding analytically using a simple theory where spiral wave unstable modes with different numbers of line defects correspond to quantized solutions of a Helmholtz equation. Furthermore, the slow inward rotation of spiral line defects is described in different regimes.

    • Received 20 June 2008

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.030906

    ©2009 American Physical Society

    Authors & Affiliations

    Juan G. Restrepo1,* and Alain Karma2

    • 1Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
    • 2Department of Physics and Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Complex Systems, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA

    • *juanga@colorado.edu

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    Issue

    Vol. 79, Iss. 3 — March 2009

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