Arriba

A life-saving success story

The problem

Atrioesphageal fistula (AEF) is a serious complication of RF ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) with a mortality rate as high as 80%

The Medical Device: EnsoETM

A novel cooling device, developed by American start-up, Attune Medical, has been shown to significantly reduce thermal injury, with no AEFs yet encountered after thousands of treatments worldwide.

The role of In Silico SE

  • We virtually evaluated the effectiveness of the device to protect the esophagus during cardiac RF ablation
  • The results confirmed an agreement of greater than 95% with available clinical data
  • The validated model is now a predictive tool that allows optimizing the device

 

Derived Scientific Production

  • Proactive Esophageal Cooling Protects Against Thermal Insults During High-Power Short-Duration Radiofrequency Ablation
  • Abstract 10771: Avoidance of Lethal Isotherm Formation in Esophageal Tissue with an Active Cooling Device Under High-Power, Short-Duration Ablation
  • Full Manuscript under peer-review process

Future Work & Opportunities

  • Evaluate different biomaterials
  • Identify which ablation setups would be more convenient to be established clinically
  • Evaluate different device wall thicknesses
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of the device in other termal management treatments