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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 91/2/323    most recent expphysiol.2005.030973v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Trayanova, N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Trayanova, N. Related Collections Heart/Cardiac Muscle

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA

Despite its critical role in restoring cardiac rhythm and thus in saving human life, cardiac defibrillation remains poorly understood. Further mechanistic inquiry is hampered by the inability of presently available experimental techniques to resolve, with sufficient accuracy, electrical behaviour confined to the depth of the ventricles. The objective of this review article is to demonstrate that realistic 3-D simulations of the ventricular defibrillation process in close conjunction with experimental observations are capable of bringing a new level of understanding of the electrical events that ensue from the interaction between fibrillating myocardium and applied shock. The article does this by reviewing the results of two studies, one on vulnerability to electric shocks and another on defibrillation. An overview of the modelling tools used in these studies is also provided.

(Received 25 September 2005; accepted after revision 22 December 2005; first published online 9 February 2006)
Corresponding author N. Trayanova: Department of Biomedical Engineering, 500 Lindy Boggs Center, Suite 500, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA. Email: nataliat{at}tulane.edu (alternative Email: nataliat{at}cox.net)

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