Imaging Fiber Orientation with Optical Coherence Tomography and Diffusion-Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging and its Role in Arrhythmogenesis

Cardiac fiber orientation is a major determinant of electrical wavefront propagation in the heart. Thus, it is critical to normal electrophysiological function and potentially important in arrhythmogenesis. Changes in fiber orientation and laminar structure occur during cardiac remodeling across a range of pathologies. An increasingly detailed knowledge of cardiac fiber orientation and its role in normal electrophysiological function has been gained using techniques such as OCT and DT-MRI in combination with electrophysiological techniques including optical mapping and computational modeling. These tools can now be used to probe the relationship between fiber orientation and the genesis of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. This edition first published 2013