Affiliation:
1. Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Tannenstr. 3, Zurich 8092, Switzerland
2. Arrhythmia and Robotic Electrophysiology Unit, University Hospital La Paz, IDIPAZ, Paseo de la Castellana 261, Madrid 28046, Spain
Abstract
Cardiac arrhythmia affects a large portion of the population, particularly the elderly. As the population ages, the number of patients suffering from this condition is expected to rise, underlining the importance of more efficient treatment methods. Radio-frequency (RF) catheter ablation is the treatment of choice for many cardiac arrhythmias. To recover a normal heartbeat, the abnormal pacemakers inside the heart are first identified and then isolated or destroyed by applying RF energy through the use of an ablation catheter. While the catheter’s design and precise navigation are topics of significant interest, there is currently no standardized evaluation setup to compare different catheter ablation systems. This paper addresses this problem by introducing an evaluation platform including an in vitro anatomical model, a catheter tracking system, and a dedicated graphical user interface. This platform enables performance assessment of catheter ablation systems using various metrics, such as procedure duration, contact stability, ablation angle and user satisfaction. A simulation environment is also presented, allowing for rapid assessment of usability-related parameters. We demonstrate the efficacy of the evaluation platform through a proof-of-concept study, and the efficacy of the simulation environment through evaluating different control gains.
Funder
European Union’s Horizon 2020
Publisher
World Scientific Pub Co Pte Ltd
Subject
Applied Mathematics,Artificial Intelligence,Computer Science Applications,Human-Computer Interaction,Biomedical Engineering