title: Fiberglass needle electrodes for transmural cardiac mapping.
abstract: We developed a new method for fabricating plunge needle electrodes for use in cardiac mapping. The needles have 12 electrodes with 1-mm spacing, are 0.5 mm in diameter, and are fabricated from fiberglass reinforced epoxy. They are stiff enough to be easily inserted into beating hearts and durable enough to be reused many times. We found that these new needles elicit smaller, more quickly resolving injury potentials, and when inserted in a row with 2-mm spacing, disrupt ventricular fibrillation activation patterns less than traditional steel needles.
authors.affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1670 University Blvd., Volker Hall, B 140, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. jmr@crml.uab.edu
authors.forename: Jack M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Sharon B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Melnick
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018780:Body Surface Potential Mapping / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004566:Electrodes; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005898:Glass; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009339:Needles; D011786:Quality Control; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013552:Swine; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: C009753:fiberglass