In-silico characterization of the atrial mode of action of ajmaline and vernakalant and their effect on spiral waves

  • Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a relevant arrhythmia due to its high prevalence and association with severe complications such as stroke, making efficient AF prevention and therapy a major clinical challenge. To date, several pharmacological agents are used clinically to terminate AF and to prevent its recurrence. However, the efficacy of drug therapy is still suboptimal and the underlying mechanisms are not understood in their entirety.
    In this work, a computational model of the antiarrhythmic agents vernakalant and ajmaline will be established based on data from literature. The model will then be used to investigate the mode of action on atrial electrophysiology with respect to concentration and rate dependence in-silico. In a second step, an existing monodomain simulation framework will be applied to simplified atrial geometries represented as unstructured grids. Using these models, the effect of ajmaline and vernakalant on spiral wave inducability and stability will be assessed. Towards this end, an algorithm detecting phase singularities in 3D space will be developed.