Farfield stimulation of the atrial myocardium-a model study

Investigations concerning the electrical excitability of the cardiac muscle were performed aiming at the development of a new stimulation technique using floating electrodes. The study is based on a model of the muscle fibre, which is stimulated by an electrical field without a direct contact between the electrode and the myocardium. Whether the stimulation is successful or not, depends on the activating function, the maximum of which must exceed the threshold potential of the cell membrane to induce an action potential. Besides the benefit of a less invasive cardiac stimulation (no fibrotic tissue formation), single-lead DDD stimulation becomes possible having the two atrial electrode rings fixed on the ventricular lead.