Heated saline-enhanced radiofrequency ablation- New concept

Heated saline-enhanced radiofrequency ablation – New concept We have heard of cooled saline tip radiofrequency catheter ablation for quite some time, which allows the formation of deeper lesions. Now here is intramural needle ablation using in-catheter, heated saline-enhanced radio frequency (SERF) energy. It uses convective heating to increase heat transfer and produce deeper controllable lesions at intramural targets. This is meant for ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) with intramural origins. So far ablations for VT have been mostly endocardial and sometimes epicardial. The first-in-human trial had 32 subjects with refractory VT across 6 centers. These patients had drug-refractory monomorphic VT after implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation and prior standard ablation. One or more VTs were induced and mapped during the procedure. SERF needle catheter was used to produce intramural lesions at targeted VT locations. Follow up period was 6 months in this study [1]. Median device therapies which included shock and antitachycardia pacing for VT was 45 in the 3-6 months prior to SERF ablation. Average number of ablations was 10 and average duration of ablation was 430 seconds. Acute procedural success was 97% for elimination of the clinical VT. At average follow up of 5 months ICD therapies were reduced by 89%. Complications noted were 2 periprocedural deaths due to embolic mesenteric infarct and cardiogenic shock, 2 mild strokes and a pericardial effusi...
Source: Cardiophile MD - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: ECG / Electrophysiology Source Type: blogs