But, by using voltage-sensitive fluorescent dye, injecting it into an isolated animal model and photographing the images at 1,000 frames per second, researchers have been able to see the small picture. These minute images of ventricular fibrillation have recently led to the discovery that the electrical activity during ventricular fibrillation forms distinct patterns.
"The patterns aren't random as we previously thought," Dr. Schumacher says. "They actually form spiral waves that often collide with each other and spin off more spiral waves."
Better bedside monitors will be able to detect the precursors to those spiral wave patterns so that doctors and nurses will have a two-to-three minute warning and can prevent ventricular fibrillation before it happens, she says.
To find out what role adrenaline plays in the whole process, Dr. Schumacher uses various drugs to simulate autonomic nervous system imbalance in an isolated animal heart. Then she photographs fluorescent images of the electrical activity while recording the heart's rhythm with an electrocardiogram.
"We know that autonomic imbalance and too much adrenaline can contribute to the conditions promoting ventricular fibrillation," she says. "This research aims to find out why."
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Contact: Jennifer Hilliard
jhilliard@mcg.edu
706-721-8604
Medical College of Georgia
22-Dec-2005