Abstract:
The mature human heart is a four-chambered pump tasked with propelling blood around the body providing nutrients to and removing waste from all the body's tissues, which is achieved through cyclical contraction of the heart's muscle in a very synchronous manner; disruption of this synchrony of contraction is the cause or result of most cardiac dysfunction. Each contraction cycle (or heartbeat) is triggered by an electrical stimulus from the heart's internal pacemaker, which initiates a wave of electrical depolarization that passes through the cardiac muscle causing mechanical contraction. The interaction of the electrical wave driving mechanical contraction and the resulting changes in electrical activation caused by the mechanical contraction of the muscle is described by the term electromechanical coupling.