Arrhythmias & electrophysiologyMechanistic study
Impact of wall thickness on the tissue cooling effect of cryoballoon ablation
- Mechanistic study
- 3D-printed left atrial-PV model
- porcine thigh muscle
Authors' conclusion
The cooling effect of cryoballoon freezing is weaker in the deeper layers.
Study context
- Population
- 3D-printed left atrial-PV model (patient data) with porcine thigh muscle, 37°C water tank with pulmonary vein (PV) flow5 freezes per thickness
- Comparison
- Porcine muscle thickness 2 vs 4 vs 6 mm
- Outcome
- Tissue cooling effect: average temperature of 12 thermocouples on the side opposite the balloon (roof of left superior PV)
- Follow-up
- 180 s
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Average tissue temperature
2 mm
−41.4
mean · SD 4.2 · °C
4 mm
−33.0
mean · SD 4.0 · °C
6 mm
8.0
mean · SD 8.7 · °C
P for trend < 0.0001
Further findings
Maximum temperature drop per 5 s (steeper in thin muscle)
- Maximum temperature drop per 5 s, 2, 4 and 6 mm thickness in that order
- 5.2 ± 0.9°C, 3.9 ± 0.7°C, and 1.3 ± 0.7°C
- Tissue temperature drops steeper in thin muscle
- P for trend < 0.0001
- P for trend <0.0001
Original publication
Impact of wall thickness on the tissue cooling effect of cryoballoon ablation. Europace. Published 20 May 2024. doi:10.1093/europace/euae135
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it