Locating Order-Disorder Phase Transition in a Cardiac System

TL;DR

This paper introduces an information-theoretic method to predict the locations of wavebreaks that initiate ventricular fibrillation in cardiac systems, aiding prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Contribution

It presents a novel, efficient approach using communication measures to locate phase transition points in cardiac models, applicable to therapies and other systems.

Findings

Channel capacity, mutual information, and transfer entropy identify wavebreak locations.

The method is computationally efficient and applicable to intervention strategies.

It generalizes to other systems with phase transitions.

Abstract

To prevent sudden cardiac death, predicting where in the cardiac system an order-disorder phase transition into ventricular fibrillation begins is as important as when it begins. We present a computationally efficient, information-theoretic approach to predicting the locations of wavebreaks that initiate fibrillation in a cardiac system where the order-disorder behavior is controlled by a single driving component, mimicking electrical misfiring from the pulmonary veins or the Purkinje fibers. Communication analysis between the driving component and each component of the system reveals that channel capacity, mutual information and transfer entropy can locate the wavebreaks. This approach is applicable to interventional therapies to prevent sudden death, as well as to a wide range of systems to mitigate or prevent imminent phase transitions.