Development of a new HotBalloon ablation catheter equipped with a balloon surface temperature monitoring sensor for pulmonary vein isolation.

The balloon surface temperature (BST) should be monitored to ensure the success of the ablation procedure using the HotBalloon ablation catheter (HBC) in clinical settings. Therefore, we sought to develop a new HBC equipped with a surface temperature monitoring sensor. The BST was evaluated using a pseudo-tissue model and a thermocouple to imitate catheter insertion into the pulmonary vein.

A porcine study of the area of heated tissue during hot-balloon ablation: Implications for the clinical efficacy and safety.

Introduction: Hot-balloon ablation depends solely on thermal conduction, and myocardial tissue is ablated by only conductive heating from the balloon surface. Despite growing clinical evidence of the efficacy and safety of hot-balloon ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF), the actual tissue temperature and the mechanism of heating during such ablation has not been clarified. To determine, by means of a porcine study, the temperatures of tissues targeted during hot-balloon ablation of AF performed with hot-balloon set temperatures of 73°C or 70°C, in accordance with the temperatures now used clinically.

Optimization of the hot balloon ablation strategy using real-time pulmonary vein potential monitoring.

Introduction: Optimal radiofrequency-generated thermal energy applications have not been established for hot balloon ablation (HBA) systems. We investigated the feasibility of real-time monitoring of pulmonary vein (PV) potentials and optimal time-to-isolation (TTI)-guided application strategies in HBAs.

Methods And Results: Real-time monitoring of PV potentials was performed using a four-electrode unidirectional catheter in 34 consecutive patients.