Autonomic nervous system dysregulation is involved in the pathophysiology of multiple cardiac arrhythmias, and therefore modulating sympathetic or parasympathetic input to the heart provides novel therapeutic options for arrhythmia management. Examples include decreasing intrinsic cardiac neuron communication, patterned vagal nerve stimulation, denervation, and blockade of post-ganglionic neurons. However, lessons from ventricular arrhythmias, where increased sympathetic activity and vagal rebound activity both amplify arrhythmia risk, stress the importance of understanding the regulatory mechanisms that modulate the balance and levels of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. Of critical need is an increased understanding of plasticity mechanisms in the autonomic nervous system, to a level similar to what is known in the central nervous system, in order to develop safe and effective neuromodulatory therapies.

自主神经系统失调涉及多个心律失常的病理生理，因此调节对心脏的交感神经或副交感神经输入为心律不齐的管理提供了新的治疗选择。例子包括减少内在的心脏神经元交流，迷走神经的图案刺激，神经支配和神经节后神经元的阻滞。但是，从室性心律不齐的教训中，交感活动增加和迷走神经反弹活动均会放大心律失常的风险，这强调了理解调节交感神经和副交感神经活动的平衡和水平的调节机制的重要性。迫切需要的是对植物神经系统中可塑性机制的了解增加到类似于中枢神经系统中已知的水平，