New index for categorising cardiac reentrant wave: in silico evaluation

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Biophysics
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Reentrant waves in cardiac tissue share similarities with vortices in fluid dynamics.
• A non-dimensional index, analogous to the Reynolds number, may be crucial for classifying reentrant wave dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To devise a novel non-dimensional index for characterizing electrical wave conduction in cardiac tissue.
• To assess the index's utility as a biomarker for categorizing reentrant wave patterns.
• To investigate the relationship between the index and wave stability.

Main Methods:

• A non-dimensionalization technique, similar to that used for the Reynolds number, was employed to derive the new index.
• A two-dimensional simulation model of electrical wave propagation in cardiac tissue was utilized for verification.

Main Results:

• The newly devised index successfully characterized electrical wave conduction.
• Simulation results demonstrated that the index can distinguish between stable and unstable wave patterns.
• A critical threshold value for the index was identified, beyond which electrical waves become unstable.

Conclusions:

• The developed non-dimensional index is a promising tool for analyzing reentrant wave dynamics in cardiac tissue.
• This index can serve as a biomarker for categorizing wave patterns and predicting instability.
• The findings provide new insights into the physics of cardiac electrophysiology and wave propagation.