Spatiotemporal periodicity during atrial fibrillation in the isolated sheep heart

The activation patterns that underlie the irregular electrical activity during atrial fibrillation (AF) have traditionally been described as disorganized or random. Recent studies, based predominantly on statistical methods, have provided evidence that AF is spatially organized. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the presence of spatial and temporal periodicity during AF.

We used a combination of high-resolution video imaging, ECG recordings, and spectral analysis to identify sequential wave fronts with temporal periodicity and similar spatial patterns of propagation during 20 episodes of AF in 6 Langendorff-perfused sheep hearts. Spectral analysis of AF demonstrated multiple narrow-band peaks with a single dominant peak in all cases (mean, 9.4+/-2.6 Hz; cycle length, 112+/-26 ms). Evidence of spatiotemporal periodicity was found in 12 of 20 optical recordings of the right atrium (RA) and in all (n=19) recordings of the left atrium (LA). The cycle length of spatiotemporal periodic waves correlated with the dominant frequency of their respective optical pseudo-ECGs (LA: R2=0.99, slope=0.94 [95% CI, 0.88 to 0.99]; RA: R2=0.97, slope=0.92 [95% CI, 0.80 to 1.03]). The dominant frequency of the LA pseudo-ECG alone correlated with the global bipolar atrial EG (R2=0.76, slope=0.75 [95% CI, 0.52 to 0.99]). In specific examples, sources of periodic activity were seen as rotors in the epicardial sheet or as periodic breakthroughs that most likely represented transmural pectinate muscle reentry. However, in the majority of cases, periodic waves were seen to enter the mapping area from the edge of the field of view.

Reentry in anatomically or functionally determined circuits forms the basis of spatiotemporal periodic activity during AF. The cycle length of sources in the LA determines the dominant peak in the frequency spectra in this experimental model of AF.