Direct cooling of the catheter tip increases safety for CMR-guided electrophysiological procedures.

Background: One of the safety concerns when performing electrophysiological (EP) procedures under magnetic resonance (MR) guidance is the risk of passive tissue heating due to the EP catheter being exposed to the radiofrequency (RF) field of the RF transmitting body coil. Ablation procedures that use catheters with irrigated tips are well established therapeutic options for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and when used in a modified mode might offer an additional system for suppressing passive catheter heating.

Methods: A two-step approach was chosen.

Carotid artery stenting using a novel self-expanding braided nickel-titanium stent: feasibility and safety porcine trial.

We studied the deliverability and safety of a braided, self-expanding, closed-cell nickel-titanium (NiTi) stent (E-volution, Jotec GmbH, Hechingen, Germany) especially designed for the endovascular treatment of carotid artery bifurcation stenosis with special regard to in-stent stenosis and thrombosis compared with a laser-cut reference nitinol stent in a porcine model of percutaneous vascular interventions. We aimed to assess histopathologic response in minipig carotid and subclavian arteries. Eight minipigs received a total of 42 stents: 14 reference stents and 28 E-volution stents.

Treatment of wide-necked intracranial aneurysms with a novel self-expanding two-zonal endovascular stent device.

Introduction: Endovascular treatment of intracerebral wide-necked aneurysms carries the risk of incomplete embolisation and recanalisation of the aneurysm as well as coil protrusion into the parent artery and embolic complications. We present preliminary results with the placement of a novel tightly braided stent across the aneurysm neck which might lead to thrombosis of these aneurysms.

Methods: A bifurcation artery aneurysm was created in a male New Zealand White Rabbit.

50 Hz fatigue testing of large diameter stent grafts.

An aortic stent graft has been fatigue tested in a system that operates at a frequency of 50 Hz. The mode of operation and the results that supplement finite element model calculations are described.