Model for propagation of solitary waves in the heart

Abstract

In cardiac electrical activity, different types of waves meander through the heart. We present a model of the electrical activity of the heart that proposes that the homogeneous wave fronts propagating through the heart are in fact solitons. We use a general set of reaction-diffusion equations known as the Barrio-Varea-Aragón-Maini (BVAM) model[1] that presents a wealth of non-linear bifurcations, and we are able to follow the route to chaos, using a mapping of the amplitude equations to the dynamics of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. We study the dynamics of wave fronts numerically in the BVAM model to describe the mechanisms leading to heart fibrillation and compare the findings with experimental data.