TEMPERATURE MONITORING DURING RADIOFREQUENCY ABLATION

Thermal injury is the primary mechanism of lesion formation during rad iofrequency catheter ablation procedures, Irreversible tissue injury r equires heating to approximately 50 degrees C. Temperatures above 100 degrees C result in coagulum formation, Because of this importance of temperature during radiofrequency catheter ablation procedures, temper ature monitoring has been proposed as a tool to facilitate catheter ab lation procedures, The results of recent clinical studies demonstrate that electrode temperatures do not differ at successful and failed abl ation sites, electrode temperature does not predict or eliminate the p ossibility of arrhythmia recurrence, and closed-loop temperature contr ol decreases but does not eliminate the development of coagulum nor gu arantees that target temperatures will be achieved, These observations are due in large part to the important distinctions between electrode temperature, the temperature at the electrode-tissue interface, and t he temperature at the ablation target, Nonetheless, temperature monito ring and temperature control are valuable tools during radiofrequency ablation procedures as they provide important information regarding th e adequacy of tissue heating, minimize the development of coagulum, an d maximize lesion size.