RESEARCH ARTICLE


Lumped Element Electrical Model based on Three Resistors for Electrical Impedance in Radiofrequency Cardiac Ablation: Estimations from Analytical Calculations and Clinical Data



Enrique Berjano1, *, Andre d'Avila2
1 Biomedical Synergy, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
2 Helmsley Cardiac Electrophysiology Center, Mt Sinai Medical Center and School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA


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Creative Commons License
© Berjano and d'Avila; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Electronic Engineering Department (Building 7F), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, 46022 Valencia, Spain; Tel: 34-963877607; Fax: 34-963877609; E-mail: eberjano@eln.upv.es


Abstract

The electrical impedance measured during radiofrequency cardiac ablation (RFCA) is widely used in clinical studies to predict the heating evolution and hence the success of the procedure. We hypothesized that a model based on three resistors in series can mimic the total electrical impedance measured during RFCA. The three resistors or impedances are given by: impedance associated with the tissue around the active electrode (myocardium and circulating blood) (Z-A), that associated with the tissue around the dispersive electrode (Z-DE) and that associated with the rest of the body (Z-B). Our objective was to quantify the values associated with these three impedance types by an analytical method, after which the values obtained would be compared to those estimated from clinical data from previous studies. The results suggest that an RFCA using a 7 Fr 4-mm electrode would give a Z-A of around 75 ohms, a Z-DE around 20 ohms, and Z-B would be 15±10 ohms (for body surface area variations between 1.5 and 2.5 m^2). Finally, adaptations of the proposed model were used to explain the results of previous clinical studies using a different electrode arrangement, such as in bipolar ablation of the ventricular septum.

Keywords: : Cardiac ablation, electrical impedance, lumped element model, percutaneous ablation, radiofrequency ablation, theoretical model, three-resistor model..