CartoMerge using SoundStar Catheter and Time Force Integral-Based Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation is based on pulmonary vein (PV) isolation, but this procedure is thought to be demanding. The visualization of 3-dimensional information that is provided by CartoMerge ® (BioSense Webster Inc., Diamond Bar, CA, USA) makes the ablation procedure easier. The SoundStar ® catheter (BioSense Webster Inc., Diamond Bar, CA, USA)became available in Korea in September 2016. CartoMerge ® using a SoundStar ® catheter, which we termed as SoundMerge, is a simple way to obtain good CartoMerge ® results. In addition, information on catheter stability and ablation intensity at each site are provided by a new ablation annotation system (CARTO ® 3 System, VisiTag™ Module [BioSense Webster Inc., Diamond Bar, CA, USA]), which would be helpful for accomplishing durable PV isolation. In this article, we introduce the methodology of SoundMerge and the setting of the VisiTag™ module that we are performing currently. Effective practical use of these new technologies would improve the quality of ablation procedures.