Endocardial irrigated catheter for volumetric optoacoustic mapping of radio-frequency ablation

Radio-frequency (RF) catheter ablation is routinely used in the clinics to treat arrhythmias, neoplastic lesions and other dysfunctional tissues. It is based on scarring the target tissue via localized heating induced by medium frequency alternating current in the proximity of a metallic ablation catheter. The outcome of RF interventions strongly relies on the temperature distribution within the treated tissue as well as on the exposure time, which cannot be efficiently monitored with existing clinical tools. Optoacoustic (OA) tomography has recently been shown to provide unique capabilities for RF ablation monitoring such as high spatio-temporal resolution, hand-held operation feasibility and high sensitivity to temperature changes and tissue coagulation. However, shallow light penetration in biological tissues strongly limits the accessible regions, particularly for cardiac procedures, while internal illumination through the catheter induces strong responses in the metallic parts that hamper soft tissue visualization. Herein, we present a new endocardial catheter based on saline irrigation that delivers electric current while being transparent for light. The new design averts OA image artifacts due to the presence of metallic electrodes while retaining the ablation efficiency.