An integrated RFA/PSOCT catheter successfully monitored catheter-tissue contact and RFA lesion formation in real time by observing phase retardance changes in cardiac tissue.
Does an integrated RFA/PSOCT catheter allow for real-time monitoring of catheter-tissue contact and lesion formation without compromising lesion size in excised swine hearts?
An integrated RFA/PSOCT catheter can simultaneously deliver RF energy and provide real-time imaging of catheter-tissue contact and lesion formation in cardiac tissue, with comparable lesion sizes to standard catheters.
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an important standard therapy for cardiac arrhythmias, but direct monitoring of tissue treatment is currently lacking. We demonstrate an RFA catheter integrated with polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT) for directly monitoring the RFA process in real time. The integrated RFA/OCT catheter was modified from a standard clinical RFA catheter and includes a miniature forward-viewing cone-scanning OCT probe. The PSOCT system was validated with a quarter-wave plate while the RFA function of the integrated catheter was validated by comparing lesion sizes with those made with an unmodified RFA catheter. Additionally, the integrated catheter guided catheter-tissue apposition and monitored RFA lesion formation in cardiac tissue in real time. The results show that catheter-tissue contact can be characterized by observing the features of the blood and tissue in the acquired OCT images and that RFA lesion formation can be confirmed by monitoring the change in phase retardance in the acquired PSOCT images. This system demonstrates the feasibility of an integrated RFA/OCT catheter to deliver RF energy and image the cardiac wall simultaneously and justifies further research into use of this technology to aid RFA therapy for cardiac arrhythmias.
Zhao et al. (Tue,) conducted a other in Cardiac arrhythmias. Integrated RFA/PSOCT catheter vs. Unmodified RFA catheter was evaluated on Catheter-tissue apposition and RFA lesion formation monitoring. An integrated RFA/PSOCT catheter successfully monitored catheter-tissue contact and RFA lesion formation in real time by observing phase retardance changes in cardiac tissue.