NCT01587404

Catheter Contact Force and Electrograms

Relationship Between Catheter Contact Force and Electrogram Characteristics in Fibrillating Human Atrial Myocardium

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 4
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 55 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Barts & The London NHS Trust · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Until recently, there was no way of telling how firmly the tip of the catheter was in contact with the heart and how this contact was orientated. The electrical signals measured through the catheters, known as electrograms, are used to guide the sites and duration of ablation, but the effect of catheter contact and orientation on these signals in human heart muscle that is fibrillating is not known. New catheters have now been developed which can measure the force of contact at their tip: using these, the investigators will examine how contact force affects the electrical behaviour of heart muscle tissue in atrial fibrillation. The effect the force of contact has on the electrogram recorded will also be investigated. In so doing we hope to gain a better understanding of the relationship between tissue contact and the electrograms we measure and in so doing improve the safety and effectiveness of ablation procedures. Hypothesis: Catheter contact force and orientation have a significant impact on the characteristics of bipolar electrograms in the fibrillating human atrium.

Conditions

• Atrial Fibrillation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	THERMOCOOL® SMARTTOUCH™ Catheter (including Surround Flow)	Variable contact force as measured at the catheter tip within the left atrium

Timeline

• Start date: 2012-04-01
• Primary completion: 2017-05-31
• Completion: 2018-08-21
• First posted: 2012-04-30
• Last updated: 2019-09-30

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom