Fiber photo-catheters for invasive and less invasive treatment of atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart rhythm abnormality that involves irregular, and often rapid, heartbeats. Recent studies demonstrate the feasibility of treating AF and other structural heart diseases with limited, left-atrial ablation lesion sets. These cardiac ablation procedures reduce the time required to perform the maze procedure surgery, and are less invasive. To produce long continuous transmural lesions, solid-state lasers and high power laser diodes, along with end emitting fiber optic catheters, have been used experimentally. These devices demonstrated promising results, but the absence of side emitting fiber flexible catheters to produce long continuous lesions limits the further development of this technology. In this research, a prototype energy delivery and control system located in a catheter, was demonstrated. The highlight of the proposed system is a flexible 10-cm fiber diffuser that can be used to make continuous photocoagulation lesions for effective maze procedure treatments. The system also includes: a flexible optical reflector; a distributed temperature sensor array for monitoring the temperature in the surrounding tissue; a series of openings for rapid self-attachment to the tissue (vacuum holder - gripper); and an optional closed-loop irrigating chamber with circulating coolant to cool the optical diffuser.