Magnetic Catheters for Cardiac Arrhythmia Ablations

Abstract

Effective radiofrequency ablation for patients affected by cardiac arrhythmias corresponds to significant and long-term improvements in their quality of life and a significant reduction in the risk of sudden cardiac death. These procedures do not always succeed, primarily due to the inability to precisely and accurately navigate a catheter inside the heart. By enabling the precise control of a flexible catheter using external magnetic fields, remote magnetic navigation has demonstrated the potential to treat arrhythmias in difficult-to-reach areas of the heart. However, this technology is still in its infancy and has a large potential for improvement and optimization. Inspired by soft-robotics and by the magnetic navigation of microrobots, several innovative catheters have been developed and tested. Unlike existing catheters, these catheters provide the ability to obtain an S-shaped catheter, to increase tip stability, to decouple catheter insertion from magnetic field orientation control, and to have independent orientation and position control. Furthermore, the diverse characteristics of each of these catheter designs enables the selection of an optimal design fulfilling the requirements of a specific medical application. The catheters presented in this thesis should broaden the field of application of remote magnetic navigation and enable additional minimally-invasive procedures.