A Study on the Response Relationship between the efficacy of Irreversible Electroporation Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation and Tissue-Electrode Contact Force on potato models

Background: Irreversible electroporation technology is an emerging tissue ablation technique that offers advantages over traditional catheter ablation techniques, such as minimal thermal damage and less treatment time. However, as this technique also involves delivering energy through a catheter to target tissue, there is a challenge with regards to the contact between the catheter and the targeted tissue, and there is a lack of related research on this issue. Further study is therefore necessary. Method: This study aims to examine this issue using potato models, with three experimental groups. First, the relationship between the effect of biphasic and monophasic output modes and contact force was studied. Next, the effect of different voltages on the response relationship at biphasic output mode was examined. Finally, impedance analysis was used to test the contact impedance under different contact forces. Results: The irreversible electroporation ablation efficacy increases with the increase of contact force for both monophasic and biphasic output modes, and there is a strong correlation between the ablation efficacy and the contact force. Under a fixed biphasic output mode, the irreversible electroporation ablation efficacy increases with increasing contact force, and there is a strong correlation between the ablation efficacy and the contact force. Conclusion: The results indicate that, under common IRE electrical parameter configuration, the effect of IRE on the tissue has a positive response to the contact force of the electrode in the potato model. This finding has important implications for the design of electrodes used in IRE for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.