Pulsed Field Ablation
Ablation procedures for AF have come a long way since they were introduced in the 1980s with advances in RFA and CBA technology. However, PFA holds the promise of offering an optimized ablation therapy for AF. The benefits of PFA may in fact lead to a paradigm shift in cardiac ablation - DAIC Staff
HWN Suggests
Pulsed Field Ablation: A New Ablation Method
In the United States, the options currently available for cardiac ablation use thermal mechanisms to ablate tissue and cause cell death. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) treatment uses energy to heat the tissue until it dies, resulting in its inability to transmit electrical signals that trigger arrhythmias. Cryoballoon ablation (CBA) uses a super-cooled balloon at the end of a catheter to freeze the tissue for the same result. Thermal methods for ablation have been successfully used for years; however, these methods carry uncommon yet serious risks... Recent studies indicate that a new technology called pulsed field ablation (PFA) can mitigate many of the above-mentioned problem areas.
Articles of Interest
What’s so special about pulsed field ablation?
Pulsed field ablation, Salmon explained, “uses a field of electricity, these pulse trains that basically rupture a cell membrane, water comes in there, then you have this death by apoptosis of the cell. It allows you to really have a very rapid and incredibly safe procedure.”
