The vulnerability to reentrant wave propagation, its characteristics (
period, meander, and stability), the effects of rotational transmural
anisotropy, and the control of reentrant waves by small amplitude pert
urbations and large amplitude defibrillating shocks are investigated t
heoretically and numerically for models based on high order, stiff bio
physically derived excitation equations. (C) 1998 American Institute o
f Physics.