In vitro model development for pulsed-field ablation treatment of atrial fibrillation
Date
2024-04-15Author
Baena Montes, Jara Maria
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Abstract
Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of cardiac arrhythmias in
humans, mostly based on hyperexcitation of specific areas in the atrium that results
in dyssynchronous atrial contraction, leading to severe consequences such as heart
failure and stroke. Among the current treatment options, catheter-based ablation is
used to isolate and destroy the abnormal tissue in the heart that promotes atrial
fibrillation and has shown to be a good alternative to anti-arrhythmic
pharmacological treatment. However, due to the large number of parameters
involved, the selection and optimization of a good in vitro model is essential before
translating the treatment to clinical trials. To this aim, this project focuses on the
development of three in vitro culture models to be used as ablation testing platforms
and the information that they can provide, indicating their potential as models in
different stages of the treatment testing. The models presented are connected so that
the results of the simpler model will influence the parameter decision of more
complex models, reducing the parameter range while increasing the physiological
resemblance to the real cardiac tissue. This study concludes by highlighting the
potential of irreversible electroporation as a treatment for atrial fibrillation and the
valuable information that can be obtained from these models.