Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 19: Nonlinear Dynamics of the Heart: Contributed talks to focus session
DY 19.6: Talk
Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 16:15–16:30, MA 001
Characterization of complex spatio-temporal dynamics in cardiac tissue and its potential use in tomographic imaging techniques — •Jan Christoph2 and Stefan Luther1,2,3 — 1Heart Research Center, Göttingen — 2Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen — 3Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, USA
Complex electromechanical spatio-temporal dynamics are the underlying mechanisms beneath cardiac arrhythmia, including vortex-like rotating scroll waves. Fluorescence imaging (optical mapping) uses voltage sensitive dyes to provide high-resolution data of cardiac excitation waves; however, this technique is limited to the surface of the heart. For a better understanding of the underlying three-dimensional dynamics inside the tissue, new imaging techniques capable of resolving the electromechanical dynamics deep inside the heart are needed. We hypothesize that characteristic properties of three-dimensional spatio-temporal dynamics in cardiac tissue may be obtained from high-resolution strain measurements during the active contraction of the cardiac muscle and that these patterns reveal differences in physiological and pathological function of the heart. We compare strain patterns obtained in simulations of an elastic excitable medium with typical patterns occurring in experiments and discuss technical challenges and limitations that are involved with the experimental investigations.