Magnetic Ablation Escorting for Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (MAESTRO-AF)

• Forschungsstelle: INNOSUISSE
• Projektnummer: 9095.1;7 PFDP-LS
• Projekttitel Englisch: Magnetic Ablation Escorting for Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (MAESTRO-AF)

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

Magnetic Ablation Escorting for Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (MAESTRO-AF)

Kurzbeschreibung (Französisch)

Magnetic Ablation Escorting for Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (MAESTRO-AF)

Abstract (Französisch)

Almost 1% of the population of industrialized countries suffers from atrial fibrillation (AF). Among elderly people this number increases up to 10%. For symptomatic AF patients resistant to medical treatment the radiofrequency (RF) ablation of the left atrial wall via a catheter inserted into the vascular system has been shown to be a viable treatment option. The catheter inserted into the atrium is used to produce dotted ablation lines on the atrial walls point by point thus interrupting the electrical conductivity of the tissue. So far no direct control of the catheter tip position is possible and the catheter is moved manually making the placement of the ablation points a complex task taking up to several hours. Furthermore no feedback on the quality of ablation is available to the operator. Life-threatening complications could occur during or after the intervention. One of them is the excessive burning of adjacent tissue resulting in heart wall perforation and/or the generation of a fistula between atrium and esophagus. The goal of this project is therefore to develop a system, based on magnetic guidance of the ablation catheter inserted into the atrium by a guiding station inserted into the esophagus, coronary sinus, pulmonary artery, aorta, etc. The esophagus and other vascular structures are located very close to the atrium with a maximal distance of 5 to 8 mm. It is planned to integrate into the tip of the guiding device a temperature sensor, a force sensor as well as a mechanism allowing magnetic force adjustment. This would allow continuous control of the tissue temperature during ablation and adjustment of the force exerted by the catheter on the atrial wall. The technology would allow to instantly draw continuous lines on the tissue surface instead of interrupted dot-lines.