Cardiac Electrophysiology Methods and Models

Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality and morbidity in the Western Hemisphere. While significant progress has been made in treating a major sub-category of cardiac disease, arrhythmias, significant unmet needs remain. In particular, every day, thousands of patients die because of arrhythmias in the US alone, and atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia affecting millions of patients in the US alone at a given time. Therefore, there is a public need to continue to develop new and better therapies for arrhythmias. Accordingly, an ever increasing number of biomedical, pharmaceutical, and medical personnel is interested in studying various aspects of arrhythmias at a basic, translational, and applied level, both in industry (ie Biotech, Pharmaceutical and device), and in academia. Not only has our overall understanding of molecular bases of disease dramatically increased, but so has the number of available and emerging molecular, pharmacological or device treatment based therapies. This practical, state-of-the art handbook will summarize and review key research methods and protocols, their advantages and pitfalls, with a focus on practical implementation, and collaborative cross-functional research. The volume will include visual and easy-to-use graphics, bulleted summaries, boxed summary paragraphs, links to reference websites, equipment manufacturers where appropriate, photographs of typical experimental setups and so forth, to keep this book very focused on practical methods and implementation, and yet, provide enough theory that the principles are clearly understood and can be easily applied.

Daniel C. Sigg, MD, PhD is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA Paul A. Iaizzo, PhD PhD is Professor of Surgery, Integrative Biology and Physiology and The Carlson School of Management, he is also Director of Education of the Lillehei Heart Institute and Associate Director for the Institute for Engineering in Medicine, he also holds the Medtronic Professorship for Visible Heart Research , University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Yong-Fu Xiao, MD, PhD is Principal Scientist at Medtronic, Inc., New Therapies & Diagnostics Management, Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, Mounds View, MN, USA Bin He, PhD is Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA