Electrophysiology Practice During COVID-19 Pandemic: A New York Tertiary Hospital Experience.

As hospitals became overwhelmed during the Covid-19 pandemic in March-May in New York, Cardiology and Electrophysiology (EP) departments rapidly developed protocols for case selection as well modifying the practice of managing the cases. Recommendations by the AHA/HRS as well as American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) were considered in the multidisciplinary collaborative approach to patient care and personnel safety and the anesthesiology team had an integral role in developing protocols for workflow, care, recovery and transport during these challenging times.

Deep myocardial ablation lesions can be created with a retractable needle-tipped catheter.

RF catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia is sometimes limited by inadequate lesion depth. This study investigated the use of a retractable needle-tipped catheter to create deep RF lesions in vivo in porcine myocardium. An 8 Fr electrode catheter with an extendable 27-gauge needle at the tip was modified for RF ablation by embedding a thermocouple and attaching a pin connector.