The effect of antiarrhythmic drug therapy on epicardial maps of activation-recovery intervals

An increased spatial heterogeneity in refractory period duration is involved in the origin of ventricular arrhythmias. Spatial correlation and fractal analysis were introduced to describe the spatial order within epicardial maps of activation-recovery-intervals before and after application of antiarrhythmic drugs. Electrograms were simultaneously recorded with a 24×10 array of electrodes. Standard variability parameters as well as correlation and fractal dimension were computed. Disopyramide mainly prolonged the mean effective refractory period duration, accompanied by an increased variability. Contrarily, cibenzoline improved the spatial correlation strength of activation-recovery-intervals. The antiarrhythmic had a “smoothing” effect on activation-recovery-maps. The results imply that pharmacological treatment may influence the spatial organization of epicardial refractoriness