Skip Navigation

European Heart Journal 1996 17(Supplement C):2-9; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/17.suppl_C.2
Copyright © 1996 by the European Society of Cardiology.
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Allessie, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Konings, K. T. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Allessie, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Konings, K. T. S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1996 1996 The European Society of Cardiology

Unravelling the electrical mysteries of atrial fibrillation

M. A. Allessie, C. J. H. J. Kirchhof and K. T. S. Konings

Department of Physiology, University of Limburg Maastricht, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Maurits A. Allessie, Department of Physiology, University of Limburg, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

Animal experiments have confirmed that a short but variable excitable gap is present during induced atrial fibrillation. The existence of this gap allows atrial fibrillation to be locally captured by rapid pacing. An area of up to 4 cm in diameter can be activated by uniform wave fronts propagating away from the site of stimulation, although the size of this area may be limited by intra-atrial conduction block or by collision with fibrillation waves. Rapid pacing can accelerate atrial fibrillation by inducing local re-entry circuits with a cycle length shorter than the pacing interval. During pacing-induced atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing surgery for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, three types of atrial activation have been identified, which vary in their degree of complexity and in the length of their fibrillation intervals. It appears that the spectrum of varying cycle lengths during atrial fibrillation might be explained by a mixture of different sorts of atrial reentry patterns, comprising purely functional intra-atrial re-entry, random re-entry, anatomical re-entry, and nodal re-entry.

Key Words: Atrial fibrillation • pacing • mapping • entrainment • Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.