Quantitative Cardiac Electrophysiology PDF

Preface

In the last twenty years, advances in computer technologies, nonlinear dynamics, signal acquisition and processing, and voltage-sensitive dyes have permeated the field of cardiac electrophysiology and redefined the methods and technologies that are used in basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. As is often the case, the introduction of new technologies has led to a better understanding of basic mechanisms, resulting in improved diagnostic methods and more effective therapeutics in the clinical setting.

This book provides in-depth coverage of the theoretical and engineering principles behind those methods and technologies. It also illustrates practical applications to problems in basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology such as the dynamics of cardiac arrhythmias, electrical stimulation of cardiac tissue, and defibrillation mechanisms. The book is organized into four sections: computer modeling (Chapters 1–6), electrical measurements and mapping (Chapters 7–11), signal processing (Chapters 12 and 13), and optical mapping (Chapters 14–17). The first six chapters cover methods for the development of computer models of ion channels, action potential, and structure of cardiac tissue and show how to apply these models to increase our understanding of electrical stimulation and defibrillation mechanisms. Chapter 7 reviews the technologies for the construction of electrodes and catheters for stimulation and recording of cardiac electrical signals. Chapters 8 discusses how to measure electrical properties of cardiac tissue. Application of electrical mapping techniques to the understanding of cardiac arrhythmias is discussed in Chapter 9. Chapters 10 and 11 illustrate two different applications of electrical mapping technology to clinical electrophysiology. Chapter 12 discusses signal In the last twenty years, advances in computer technologies, nonlinear dynamics, signal acquisition and processing, and voltage-sensitive dyes have permeated the field of cardiac electrophysiology and redefined the methods and technologies that are used in basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. As is often the case, the introduction of new technologies has led to a better understanding of basic mechanisms, resulting in improved diagnostic methods and more effective therapeutics in the clinical setting.

This book provides in-depth coverage of the theoretical and engineering principles behind those methods and technologies. It also illustrates practical applications to problems in basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology such as the dynamics of cardiac arrhythmias, electrical stimulation of cardiac tissue, and defibrillation mechanisms. The book is organized into four sections: computer modeling (Chapters 1–6), electrical measurements and mapping (Chapters 7–11), signal processing (Chapters 12 and 13), and optical mapping (Chapters 14–17). The first six chapters cover methods for the development of computer models of ion channels, action potential, and structure of cardiac tissue and show how to apply these models to increase our understanding of electrical stimulation and defibrillation mechanisms. Chapter 7 reviews the technologies for the construction of electrodes and catheters for stimulation and recording of cardiac electrical signals. Chapters 8 discusses how to measure electrical properties of cardiac tissue. Application of electrical mapping techniques to the understanding of cardiac arrhythmias is discussed in Chapter 9. Chapters 10 and 11 illustrate two different applications of electrical mapping technology to clinical electrophysiology. Chapter 12 discusses signal processing techniques that can be applied to extract meaningful information from cardiac signals recorded during complex arrhythmias, and Chapter 13 examines how to automate the discrimination between different cardiac rhythms. Chapters 14 to 17 cover emerging technologies for imaging electrical activity in the heart using voltage-sensitive dyes.

The book will be useful to a broad audience interested in cardiovascular medicine and physiology, including clinicians, students, and researchers in the fields of biomedical engineering, applied physics and mathematics, and computational biology. Clinical cardiac electrophysiologists and arrhythmologists will benefit from the groundwork provided on the technological basis for measurements made in clinical practice.

Our primary thanks go to our contributors, key leaders in their fields, without whom this book would not have been possible. Their time and enthusiasm is greatly appreciated. We would also like to thank our families, especially our wives, Teresa Hervada and Anita B. Rosenbaum, for their support and understanding in this and other projects. Candido Cabo David