title: SmartTouch™ - The Emerging Role of Contact Force Technology in Complex Catheter Ablation.
abstract: Novel technologies have been developed recently to assess contact between the ablation catheter and the underlying tissue in an attempt to improve safe and effective lesion delivery. The most recently developed technology is the SmartTouch™ catheter which is an open irrigated-tip catheter integrated within the CARTO 3 3D mapping system. In this review we consider the role of contact force technology, evaluate the published data and discuss the potential applications of this novel technology.
authors.affiliation: Senior Registrar in Cardiology.
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Page
authors.affiliation: Consultant Cardiologist, Department of Electrophysiology, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Mehul
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dhinoja
keywords: Ablation catheter; CARTO 3 3D mapping system; SmartTouch™; lesion delivery
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