Real-Time Closed Loop Diastolic Interval Control Prevents Cardiac Alternans in Isolated Whole Rabbit Hearts.

Cardiac alternans, a beat-to-beat alternation in action potential duration (APD), can lead to fatal arrhythmias. During periodic pacing, changes in diastolic interval (DI) depend on subsequent changes in APD, thus enhancing cardiac instabilities through a 'feedback' mechanism. Recently, an anti-arrhythmic Constant DI pacing protocol was proposed and shown to be effective in suppressing alternans in 0D and 1D in silico studies.