Reentry via high-frequency pacing in a mathematical model for human-ventricular cardiac tissue with a localized...

Localized heterogeneities, caused by the regional proliferation of fibroblasts, occur in mammalian hearts because of diseases like myocardial infarction. Such fibroblast clumps can become sources of pathological reentrant activities, e.g., spiral or scroll waves of electrical activation in cardiac tissue. The occurrence of reentry in cardiac tissue with heterogeneities, such as fibroblast clumps, can depend on the frequency at which the medium is paced. Therefore, it is important to study the reentry-initiating potential of such fibroblast clumps at different frequencies of pacing. We investigate the arrhythmogenic effects of fibroblast clumps at high- and low-frequency pacing. We find that reentrant waves are induced in the medium more prominently at high-frequency pacing than with low-frequency pacing. We also study the other factors that affect the potential of fibroblast clumps to induce reentry in cardiac tissue. In particular, we show that the ability of a fibroblast clump to induce reentry depends on the size of the clump, the distribution and percentage of fibroblasts in the clump, and the excitability of the medium. We study the process of reentry in two-dimensional and a three-dimensional mathematical models for cardiac tissue.