Jean George Bachmann, in 1916, reported in The American Journal of Physiology on the auricular time intervals in 12 dog experiments.
Bachmann hypothesized that in view of the solidarity of the auricles, a special structure
may exist whose special function would be that of interauricular conduction. He described
a band of muscle tissue stretching from the right auricle to the base of the left
atrial appendage, acknowledging that Lewis et al
2
had made similar observations 2 years earlier, describing it as the interauricular
band. With time, this band of tissue became known as Bachmann’s bundle (BB). There
are relatively few specific anatomic studies of BB.
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
Recently, high-resolution optical mapping in sheep
8
and endocardial–epicardial mapping in dogs
9
further supported previous work
10
,
11
on the importance of BB in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation. Clinical electrophysiologic
reports using nonfluoroscopic mapping have demonstrated that BB provides the most
important interatrial conduction pathway and may play a role in sustaining atrial
fibrillation.
12
,
13
In view of the renewed interest and potential importance for interventions, we performed
a detailed anatomic investigation of BB in human heart specimens.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- The interauricular time interval.Am J Physiol. 1916; 41: 309-320
- The excitatory process in the dog’s heart. Part I. The auricles.Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond. 1914; 205: 375-426
- Heart musculature of the atria.Am J Anat. 1920; 27: 255-277
- The connecting pathways between the sinus node and A-V node and between the right and the left atrium in the human heart.Am Heart J. 1963; 66: 498-508
- Anatomy of the left atrium.J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 1999; 10: 1525-1533
- Architecture of atrial musculature in humans.Br Heart J. 1995; 73: 559-565
- Structure of the left atrium.Eur Heart J. 2000; 2: 4-8
- Left-to-right gradient of atrial frequencies during acute atrial fibrillation in the isolated sheep heart.Circulation. 2001; 103: 2631-2636
- Method for simultaneous epicardial and endocardial mapping of in vivo canine heart.J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2001; 12: 548-555
- Experimental evaluation of Moe’s multiple wavelet hypothesis of atrial fibrillation.in: Zipes D.P. Jalife J. Cardiac Electrophysiology and Arrhythmias. Grune & Stratton, New York1985: 265-275
- Normal and abnormal activation of the atrium.in: Zipes D.P. Jalife J. Cardiac Electrophysiology: From Cell to Bedside. 2nd ed. W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia1995: 543-562
- Use of electroanatomic mapping to delineate transseptal atrial conduction in humans.Circulation. 1999; 100: 1791-1797
- Endocardial mapping of atrial fibrillation in the human right atrium using a noncontact catheter.Eur Heart J. 2000; 21: 550-564
- Total excitation of the isolated human heart.Circulation. 1970; 41: 899-911
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
February 28,
2003
Received in revised form:
February 28,
2003
Received:
December 2,
2002
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 Excerpta Medica Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
