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The Concept of Entrainment

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Heart Rhythm Disorders

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Abstract

The word entrainment was derived from entrain, “to draw along.” It was first applied to cardiac electrophysiology by Dr. Albert Waldo in 1977. It is one of the most important concepts in clinical cardiac electrophysiology, a concept that remained an intellectual curiosity for many years until catheter ablation entered the clinical arena for the treatment of supraventricular and ventricular tachycardia (VT). In this chapter, the author discusses the history of entrainment and reentry in deciphering the mechanism of cardiac arrhythmias as well as the methodology of entrainment mapping to determine the critical isthmus in various tachycardias. Additionally, the author highlights the contributions of George Ralph Mines in describing reentry as far back as 1913 and those of Dr. William G. Stevenson in entrainment mapping of ventricular tachycardia for catheter ablative purposes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    J. Anthony Gomes

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  1. J. Anthony Gomes
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Correspondence to J. Anthony Gomes .

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Gomes, J.A. (2020). The Concept of Entrainment. In: Heart Rhythm Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45066-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45066-3_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-45065-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-45066-3

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