RESEARCH ARTICLE
Mathematical Modeling of Epicardial RF Ablation of Atrial Tissue with Overlying Epicardial Fat
Ana González Suárez1, Fernando Hornero2, Enrique J. Berjano*, 1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 47
Last Page: 55
Publisher ID: TOBEJ-4-47
DOI: 10.2174/1874120701004020047
Article History:
Received Date: 5/9/2009Revision Received Date: 12/11/2009
Acceptance Date: 18/12/2009
Electronic publication date: 4/2/2010
Collection year: 2010
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
The efficacy of treating atrial fibrillation by RF ablation on the epicardial surface is currently under question due to the presence of epicardial adipose tissue interposed between the ablation electrode and target site (atrial wall). The problem is probably caused by the electrical conductivity of the fat (0.02 S/m) being lower than that of the atrial tissue (0.4-0.6 S/m). Since our objective is to improve epicardial RF ablation techniques, we planned a study based on a two-dimensional mathematical model including an active electrode, a fragment of epicardial fat over a fragment of atrial tissue, and a section of atrium with circulating blood. Different procedures for applying RF power were studied, such as varying the frequency, using a cooled instead of a dry electrode, and different modes of controlling RF power (constant current, temperature and voltage) for different values of epicardial fat thickness. In general, the results showed that the epicardial fat layer seriously impedes the passage of RF current, thus reducing the effectiveness of atrial wall RF ablation.