Purpose The therapeutic index (TI) is the range of doses at which a medication is effective
without unacceptable adverse events. Drugs with a narrow TI (NTIDs) have a narrow …

Computer simulations and nonlinear dynamics have provided invaluable tools for
illuminating the underlying mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias. Here, we review how this …

Cardiac sodium (Na) channels are dynamic molecules that undergo rapid structural
changes in response to the changing electrical field in the myocardium. Inherited mutations …

Sodium ion (Na) influx through cardiac Na channels triggers the action potential in cells of
the working myocardium and the specialized conduction system. Na channels thus act as …

Sudden cardiac death attributable to ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation (VF) remains a
catastrophic outcome of myocardial ischemia and infarction. At the same time, conventional …

The major limitation to antiarrhythmic drug therapy is the risk of arrhythmia promotion, or
'proarrhythmia.'This complication may be lethal, and greatly restricts the value of …

Since the use of cinchona bark to treat heart palpitations in the 1700s, antiarrhythmic drug
therapy has developed with the discovery of new compounds and the identification of ionic …

Background—Conduction block may be both antiarrhythmic and proarrhythmic. Drug-
induced postrepolarization refractoriness (PRR) may prevent premature excitation and …

In cardiac patients, life‐threatening tachyarrhythmia is often precipitated by abnormal
changes in ventricular repolarization and refractoriness. Repolarization abnormalities …

The role of dynamic instabilities in the initiation of reentry in diseased (remodeled) hearts
remains poorly explored. Using computer simulations, we studied the effects of altered Na+ …