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University of Utah
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Mathematical Biology seminar

Jim Keener
University of Utah
"The Topology of Defibrillation"
October 22
3:05pm in LCB 225

Hundreds of lives are saved daily because of defibrillators, either external defibrillators such as those used by paramedics or implanted defibrillators. In spite of this obvious success, the mechanistic explanation for this success is still unresolved and remains somewhat controversial. In this talk, I will use topological arguments to examine the method by which large scale virtual electrodes may defibrillate cardiac tissue. I will show that the probability of defibrillation success is bounded well below one, which contradicts the experimental evidence. I conclude that some other mechanism must be involved in defibrillation.



For more information contact J. Keener, 1-6089

E-mail: keener@math.utah.edu