Abstract
A new catheter-device system which applies thermal energy to endocardium was developed. The heater was made of platinum wire (50μm OD) mounted on the catheter tip. The temperature of the heater was kept at a fixed level automatically by the device through monitoring the change of heater resistance.
When the heater was applied on agar surface, the temperature of the catheter tip reached a stable level in the first 10 seconds and the temperature did not rise beyond 55°C by the power of 20 watts and at its duration of 30 seconds.
When it was applied on fresh canine endocardium, a visible injured region expanded depending on the energy, but if did not exceed 3 milimeters in depth.
The developed catheter-device system provides a method to make a superficial injured region on the endocardium which can be enough to ablate the substrate inducing ventricular tachycardia.
