Irrigated and non-irrigated radiofrequency ablation systems and ways of non-irrigated RF systems development

Improving of radiofrequency ablation systems for the myocardium is one of the fundamental problems of cardiac surgery. We used pig left ventricular myocardium as a working model. Mean thickness of the left ventricular wall was 10.1 ± 5.6 mm. The studies were performed on 10 hearts. The mean weight of hearts was 294.7 ± 21g. Research is being done on the electrophysical bench in 2 stages. In the first stage the hearts were placed on the electrophysical bench and heated to 36.6°C. In the second stage heart cooled to 20°C. The monopolar radiofrequency exposure was processing on the myocardium by two types of electrodes: spherical irrigated electrode and non-irrigated penetrating one within 20 seconds. The electrical resistance of the myocardium was measured at different temperatures before and after exposure. This paper shows that the decrease in ambient temperature combined with using of new penetrating electrodes for radiofrequency ablation gives better results than using of irrigated and non-irrigated systems. This method allows significantly reduce time exposure for a maximum depth of destruction in the myocardium.