Purkinje involvement in arrhythmias after coronary artery reperfusion

David O. Arnar, James B. Martins*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Previous studies have indicated that the endocardium may be responsible for a large portion of ventricular tachycardia (VT) seen with reperfusion of ischemic myocardium. To evaluate the role of the Purkinje system in nonreentrant VT arising from the endocardium after reperfusion, the anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for 20 min and then reperfused in 23 dogs after instrumentation of the risk zone with 21 multipolar plunge needles. VT with focal Purkinje origin was defined as a focal endocardial VT with Purkinje potentials recorded before the earliest endocardial myopotential. A total of 19 VTs (mean cycle length 214 ± 2 ms) were observed with 11 (58%) having focal Purkinje origin. Fifty-eight percent of the VTs degenerated to ventricular fibrillation, with occurrences of two or more independent foci per complex (seen in 7 of 11 compared with 1 of 8 nonsustained VTs). In conclusion, these data show that Purkinje tissue may be important in the genesis of reperfusion VT.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)H1189-H1196
JournalAmerican Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology
Volume282
Issue number4 51-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2002

Other keywords

  • Mapping
  • Ventricles

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Purkinje involvement in arrhythmias after coronary artery reperfusion'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this