Introduction: Radiofrequency (RF) and cryoenergy are largely considered independent modalities for the transcatheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias. There are numerous theoretical advantages to engineering a system capable of delivering both energy forms.
Methods and results: We designed a hybrid steerable catheter capable of delivering RF and cryoenergy independently, sequentially, and simultaneously. The novel catheter system was tested pre-clinically by creating a total of 180 ablation lesions in 20 mongrel dogs. Right atrial and right and left ventricular sites were preselected by a randomized factorial design devised to compare sequential and simultaneous RF and cryoenergy applications to standard RF, irrigated RF, and standard cryoablation. A steerable 4-mm electrode-tip hybrid catheter ("Fire and Ice") was created by modifying a 7 F cryocatheter (Freezor, CryoCath Technologies, Montreal, Canada). RF energy was injected via a copper wire, thermocouples were isolated to reduce RF interference, and 100 KHz band pass filters and RF chokes were added. Sequential low-dose RF (20 W, 60 seconds) preceding or following cryoablation resulted in larger lesions (P = 0.0010). The addition of RF energy did, however, produce more thrombus than cryoenergy alone, with clot detected on 82.4% versus 12.1% of ablation lesions, P < 0.0001. Simultaneously applying the two energy modalities (45 W, 10 or 30 degrees C, 60 seconds) created more voluminous lesions than standard RF ablation (median 288.1 vs 126.1 mm(3), P = 0.0333) of similar dimension to irrigated RF ablation.
Conclusion: A versatile catheter system was fashioned capable of creating standard cryoablation lesions, standard RF lesions, and simultaneous lesions of similar dimension to irrigated RF.