October 13, 2010Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology
Tissue‐Specific Variability in Human Epicardial Impedance
Key result
Epicardial fat demonstrated significantly higher tissue impedance than normal muscle (697 Ω vs. 301 Ω; P=0.01) when measured with standard ablation tools.
Why the study?
Does human epicardial fat have higher impedance than normal myocardium when measured with standard ablation tools?
Study Design
Type
Observational (n=7)
Structured PICO
Does human epicardial fat have higher impedance than normal myocardium when measured with standard ablation tools?
P
Population
7 patients undergoing elective surgery for coronary artery or valve disease in whom 37 epicardial points were sampled.
E
Exposure
Epicardial impedance measurement using a standard ablation catheter (1 μA, 50 kHz current) in ventricular regions visually identified as fat or myocardium
C
Comparator
Comparison between regions of fat and normal muscle, and between left ventricle (LV) and right ventricle (RV)
O
Outcome
Epicardial tissue impedance (in Ohms)surrogate
Main Result
Absolute Event Rate: 697% vs 301%
p-value: p=0.01
Human epicardial fat has higher tissue impedance than normal muscle, suggesting that combining epicardial impedance and voltage mapping may improve the differentiation of arrhythmia substrate from epicardial fat during ablation.
Authors
Discussion
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Implication
May aid fat-scar differentiation on epicardial mapping; leaves open impact on VT ablation outcomes.
Cite This Study
Jacobson et al. (2010) conducted an observational in Coronary artery or valve disease (n=7). Epicardial fat vs. Normal muscle was evaluated on Epicardial impedance (p=0.01). Epicardial fat demonstrated significantly higher tissue impedance than normal muscle (697 Ω vs. 301 Ω; P=0.01) when measured with standard ablation tools.