From Experiment to Therapeutic Innovation in Atrial Fibrillation and Flutter

Since the application of computers in the experimental laboratory in the mid seventies, the facilities and scale of arrhythmia studies of cardiac muscle preparation and intact animal heart have impressively been expanded. Intracavitary mapping of both atria using 480 simultaneous recording electrodes is a good example of computer application shedding new light on the mechanism of atrial fibrillation[1]. However, one might have concern on the validity of these high technology experiments for clinical cardiology. Difference in the type of ventricular arrhythmias observed after myocardial reperfusion illustrates very well this disparity: ventricular fibrillation and tachycardia are the case in animal experiments, whereas accelerated idioventricular rhythm is today recognized a marker of reperfusion following thrombolysis in human coronary arteries[2,3].