Comparison of lesion characteristics using temperature‐flow‐controlled versus conventional power‐controlled ablation with fixed ablation index

摘要

Abstract Introduction The QDOT‐MicroTM catheter is a novel irrigated contact force (CF) sensing catheter which benefits from thermocouples for temperature monitoring, allowing temperature‐flow‐controlled (TFC) ablation. We compared lesion metrics at fixed ablation index (AI) value during TFC‐ablation and conventional power‐controlled (PC)‐ablation. Methods A total of 480 RF‐applications were performed on ex‐vivo swine myocardium with predefined AI targets (400/550) or until steam‐pop occurred, using the QDOT‐MicroTM (TFC‐ablation) and Thermocool SmartTouch SFTM (PC‐ablation). Results Both TFC‐ablation and PC‐ablation produced similar lesions in volume (218?±?116 vs. 212?±?107?mm3, p?=?.65); however, lesions using TFC‐ablation were larger in surface area (41.3?±?8.8 vs. 34.8?±?8.0 ?mm2, p?