Radiofrequency Atrial Linear Ablation Using Microcatheters

Abstract

Microcatheters were initially developed for the purpose of electrophysiological mapping within the right coronary arterial system to locate right-sided accessory pathways. These included 2.2-French bipolar catheter manufactured by Viggo-Spectramed from Oxnard, California, and a 3-French fixed-wire design catheter with ten bipolar electrode pairs manufactured by Cardima, Inc. from Fremont, California. Both Elecath, Inc. and Mansfield/Boston Scientific, Inc. also had microcatheters applying a different design; they used an over-the-guide-wire system similar to the angioplasty approach, using 0.014-inch high-torque floppy angioplasty guide wire.¹ Unfortunately, for various reasons this application failed to gain popularity and none of these microcatheters received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).