title: In vitro characterization of cardiac radiofrequency ablation lesions using optical coherence tomography.
abstract: Currently, cardiac radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is guided by indirect signals. We demonstrate optical coherence tomography (OCT) characterization of RFA lesions within swine ventricular wedges. Untreated tissue exhibited a consistent birefringence artifact within OCT images due to the organized myocardium, which was not present in treated tissue. Birefringence artifacts were detected by filtering with a Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) to quantify gradient strength. The gradient strength distinguished RFA lesions from untreated sites (p=5.93 x 10(-15)) with a sensitivity and specificity of 94.5% and 86.7% respectively. This study demonstrates the potential of OCT for monitoring cardiac RFA, confirming lesion formation and providing feedback to avoid complications.
authors.affiliation: Case Western Reserve University. Biomedical Engineering Department. Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Christine P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: Kara J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amit
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rollins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001718:Birefringence; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D034421:Sus scrofa; D013696:Temperature; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*