Cavo-Tricuspid Isthmus Ablation by Novel Photodynamic Laser Catheter in Swine Heart in Vivo

Cell-specific nanoplatform-enabled photodynamic therapy for cardiac cells

“…Recently, encouraging results have been presented by Miyoshi et al demonstrating that after intra-venous injection of the photo-sensitizer talaporfin and introduction of an intra-cardiac Laser light delivery catheter, a cavo-tricuspid isthmus conduction block is readily obtained. 22 It should be mentioned, however, that in this work, the lesions formed were not cell-specific as talaporfin was delivered equally to all cardiac cell types. Also, it appears increasingly clear that cardiac fibroblasts and myofibroblasts are key players in cardiac arrhythmias pathophysiology.…”

“…21 Also, Dr. Miyoshi et al indeed recently presented an abstract to the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions demonstrating that after intra-venous injection of the photo-sensitizer talaporfin and introduction of an intra-cardiac Laser light delivery catheter, a cavo-tricuspid isthmus conduction block is readily obtained. 22 However, it should be noted that in these studies, PDT was not targeted and damage likely occurred in all cardiac cell types in the region illuminated. In addition, the fact that talaporfin non-specifically binds to all organs, including the skin, would hamper clinical applicability, as talaporfin skin deposition may lead to sunburn sun exposure.…”