Optoacoustic monitoring of real-time lesion formation during radiofrequency catheter ablation

Current radiofrequency cardiac ablation procedures lack real-time lesion monitoring guidance, limiting the reliability and efficacy of the treatment. The objective of this work is to demonstrate that optoacoustic imaging can be applied to develop a diagnostic technique applicable to radiofrequency ablation for cardiac arrhythmia treatment with the capabilities of real-time monitoring of ablated lesion size and geometry. We demonstrate an optoacoustic imaging method using a 256-detector optoacoustic imaging probe and pulsed-laser illumination in the infrared wavelength range that is applied during radiofrequency ablation in excised porcine myocardial tissue samples. This technique results in images with high contrast between the lesion volume and unablated tissue, and is also capable of capturing time-resolved image sequences that provide information on the lesion development process. The size and geometry of the imaged lesion were shown to be in excellent agreement with the histological examinations. This study demonstrates the first deep-lesion real-time monitoring for radiofrequency ablation generated lesions, and the technique presented here has the potential for providing critical feedback that can significantly impact the outcome of clinical radiofrequency ablation procedures.