Boston AF Symposium: Microbubble and Emboli Production from Left Atrial Ablation with an RF Mesh Ablation System vs. Irrigated Tip Ablation: Outcomes of an Extracorporeal Loop Swine Model

David E. Haines, MD, FHRS; Charles Haffajee, MD, FHRS; Michael V. Orlov, MD, FACC; James R.L. Stanley, DVM, MS, DACVP; Rose Baird, MS; Julie Broderick, MSc; Claire Williams, MA; Ding He, MD, FHRS. ‘Microbubble and Emboli Production from Left Atrial Ablation with an RF Mesh Ablation System vs. Irrigated Tip Ablation: Outcomes of an Extracorporeal Loop Swine Model.’

Poster presented at: The Boston Atrial Fibriliation Symposium, May, 2013.

Summary: Recent investigations have identified the existence of asymptomatic cerebral emboli (ACE) on diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) following left atrial ablation for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF).1,2 A swine model has been described utilizing an extracorporeal loop to evaluate the potential for production of gas and solid particles during AF ablation.3 Emboli production is thought to be a surrogate for ACE formation. This model has been demonstrated to capture solid emboli and count microbubbles during left atrial ablation with the Medtronic PVAC device and an irrigated tip RF catheter. We utilized this model to evaluate the embolic potential of a novel multipole RF pulmonary vein (PV) isolation device compared to an irrigated tip RF catheter.