Cardiac Electrophysiological Mapping And Ventricular Tachycardia In A Model Of Chronic Heart Failure

Abstract

In the United States, one in three deaths are attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) (1). Within CVD, sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an increasingly common cause of mortality, by way of ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation. A positive correlation has been found between the presence of ischemic heart failure and the likelihood of inducible VT (2-5) as well as the presence of coronary artery disease and the likelihood of experiencing SCD (6). We have developed custom electrophysiology (EP) software (7) to perform examinations to distinguish between the sub-types of ischemic myocardium in rats. Furthermore, I am able to display EP data in two dimensional colormap arrays to provide a spatially-oriented image of the myocardium. Our software is also able to induce VT, in a consistent, minimally invasive manner. Now that I have established a consistent difference in mapping and arrhythmia (8) between healthy myocardium and damaged myocardium in our model of ischemic heart failure, I have the opportunity to investigate the mechanisms by which adverse cardiac remodeling leads to an increased risk of SCD, investigate therapies, as well as an opportunity to investigate other animal models of ischemic or non-ischemic cardiomyopathies for model phenotype validation and subsequent treatment effectiveness.