Associate Professor Anand Ganesan

Associate Professor Anand Ganesan is a cardiac electrophysiologist, and clinician-scientist.

He undertook his MBBS at the University of Sydney(2000), PhD at Johns Hopkins University (2006), FRACP (cardiology) at Westmead Hospital (2010), and Postdoc at the Uni of Adelaide (2011-2014).

Dr Ganesan is Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at Flinders Medical Centre, and Group Leader, Cardiac Signals Analysis Lab, Flinders University. My group is interested in developing an objective, biophysics-based approach to the mapping and treatment of human AF.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common human arrhythmia. It occurs due to the chaotic electrical activation of the upper heart chambers. Most people, when they use the word chaotic, are referring loosely to the notion that AF is disorganised.

However, when we talk about chaos in this context, we are referring to the idea that AF is most likely a form of extensive chaos according to chaos theory The notion that AF is a form of chaos is important because it allows certain kinds of predictions about AF. One such prediction is that pattern formation dynamics in AF should become statistically stable.

This property, known as ergodicity, means that pattern dynamics in AF (and its lethal sister arrhythmia ventricular fibrillation), can be accurately statistically characterised, and provides the foundation for governing equations in cardiac fibrillation.

My team is working on establishing this way of thinking about AF scientifically. We have shown that the rates at which spiral waves are generated in AF (and, with some qualifications VF), converge to stable rates called renewal rates.

We are dedicated to turning this insight into the AF mechanism into practical applications to improve the treatment of AF, especially ablation. We welcome email or Twitter enquiries from potential clinical & research fellows and students.