Title: Approximate model for the action potential of the heart: application to atrial fibrillation diagnosis

Authors: Avinoam Rabinovitch; Menahem Friedman

Addresses: Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel. ' Department of Information Systems Engineering, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel

Abstract: Our aim was to find a simple method of diagnosing the different stages of atrial fibrillation. Using only the time dependence of the action potential of a myocardial cell, an appropriate modified FitzHugh-Nagumo (MFHN) approximation to the electrical function is obtained. A criterion which successfully discerns between healthy patients and patients with different stages of atrial fibrillation (AF) is derived. This method can be used effectively to diagnose AF.

Keywords: modified FitzHugh-Nagumo; MFHN; approximate action potential; atrial fibrillation diagnosis; myocardial cells; electrical response; heart cells.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIH.2012.046996

International Journal of Computers in Healthcare, 2012 Vol.1 No.3, pp.229 - 239

Published online: 30 Oct 2014 *

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