Fluorescent imaging of the vortex core in the rabbit heart

Vortex-like electrical activity underlies most of cardiac arrhythmias. The type and severity of cardiac arrhythmias depend upon the number and dynamics of the vortices. The authors simulated vortex-like electrical activity in a 2D Luo-Rudy model (1991) and observed three basic types of vortices: circular, cycloidal and linear. Theory predicts that the linear core is present in normal myocardium, while the cycloidal and circular cores are in tissues with suppressed sodium and calcium ionic conductivity, i.e. during ischemia.