AFiT - Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Planning Tool

Abstract

The planning of cryo-balloon ablations for treatment of atrial fibrillation is a crucial task for a physician as he has to determine which size of the balloon catheter is required for isolation at each pulmonary vein. Today, the diameter of the pulmonary vein's ostium is measured in a pre-operative data set to determine which type of catheter is most appropriate. We present a novel tool that visualizes a cryo-balloon catheter model within a 3-D model representing a segmented left atrium. Using this approach, physicians are able to better assess the catheter fit. So far, measurement of the pulmonary vein diameters have been performed by evaluation of 2-D slices taken from pre-operative data sets. The first feedback obtained by physicians was very encouraging as this tool offers better insights for balloon catheter ablation procedures.