Abstract 17335: Visual or Tactile Feedback: Which One is More Important for Catheter Ablation?

Introduction: Contact Force between the ablation electrode and the targeted tissue is important in determining lesion size. Visual and tactile feedbacks together are clinically used to assess catheter stability and contact. The aim of the study was to compare the contact pressure measured with visual and tactile feedbacks together or alone in an experimental model. Method: An in vitro experimental setup was devised to replicate the task of manual catheter manipulation. The setup included a catheter in a flushed sheath, with a tissue model at the catheter tip. The tissue model was instrumented with a load cell to track and record force applied to the tissue model by the catheter. Evaluators were asked to identify distinct levels of force at 3 different targets: 1) first contact with the target, ablative contact, and maximum contact using randomly combinations of senses: 1) visual only, by observing fluoroscopic image while “blinded” to touch; 2) tactile feedback only, blinded to fluoroscopy; 3) both tactil...