One factor which may be important for determining proper lesion creation during atrial ablation is catheter-endocardial contact. Little information is available that relates geometric contact, depth and angle, to ablation lesion formation. We present an electrothermal computer model of ablation that calculated lesion volume and temperature development over time. The Pennes bioheat equation was coupled to a quasistatic electrical problem to investigate the effect of catheter penetration depth, as well as incident catheter angle as may occur in practice. Biological experiments were performed to verify the modelling of electrical phenomena. Results show that for deeply penetrating tips, acute catheter angles reduced the rate of temperature buildup, allowing larger lesions to form before temperatures elevated excessively. It was also found that greater penetration did not lead to greater transmurality of lesions. We conclude that catheter contact angle plays a significant role in lesion formation, and the time course must be considered. This is clinically relevant because proper identification and prediction of geometric contact variables could improve ablation efficacy.

One factor which may be important for determining proper lesion creation in an atrial ablation procedure is catheter-endocardial contact. Little information is available that relates geometric contact, depth and angle, to ablation lesion formation. We present an electrothermal computer model of ablation that calculates lesion volume and temperature development over time. The Pennes bioheat equation was coupled to a quasistatic electrical problem. This method simulates importantly, not just catheter penetration depth, but also several different incident catheter angles as may occur in practise. Results show that for deeply penetrating tips, greater catheter angles reduce the rate of temperature buildup, allowing for larger lesions to form before temperatures become dangerous. It was also found that greater penetration may not lead to greater transmurality in lesion formation. We conclude that catheter contact angle plays a significant role in lesion formation, and the time course must be considered. This is clinically relevant because it makes proper identification and prediction of geometric contact variables a necessity in order to improve ablation efficacy and safety.

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