Fibrotic nonexcitable 'dead' tissue normally presents

fibrotic nonexcitable 'dead' tissue normally presents This corresponds, Cheng notes, to observations made with electrocardiograms however that reveal a change from pane-wave to spiral wavelets accompanying the procession from normal sinus rhythm to ventricular fibrillation, a cause of cardiac arrest.

Recognizing these wave patterns and what they represent, Cheng says, may lead to a better and more timely understanding of the structure of a diseased organ. This knowledge, he adds, could help determine whether an organ is becoming diseased as well as the extent of damage to an organ once it is diseased.

"For example, fibrotic nonexcitable 'dead' tissue normally presents as a small percentage of normal heart tissue," Cheng says. "As a result of aging, after a heart attack, or in the case of cardiac myopathies, the percentage of fibrotic tissue increases dramatically, up to 30 or 40 percent.