Magnetic navigation systems reduce both procedure times and fluoroscopy radiation exposure for children undergoing catheter ablations, according to a study published in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.
Transcatheter ablation is an effective method to eliminate the arrhythmogenic substrate in symptomatic children with tachyarrhythmias, who have heartbeat rates of more than 100 beats per minute. The challenges that physicians face are to avoid ablation-induced complications and to keep the radiation dose exposure from fluoroscopy exams as low as possible (July 1, 2010, Am J Cardiol, Vol. 106:1, pp. 69-72).
Cardiologists at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, replaced manual navigation for guiding ablation with the use of a magnetic navigation system (Niobe, Stereotaxis, St. Louis). Lead author Bruno Schwagten, MD, and colleagues noted that the maneuverability of the magnetic navigation system made it easier for the catheter to gain access to remote areas of the heart, a process that was challenging when a less-flexible catheter was used with the manual process. They attributed reduced fluoroscopy usage and a shorter procedure time to this capability.
To formally determine the amount of improvement, the authors compared procedure time, use of fluoroscopy, acute success, and procedure-related complications in 29 consecutive patients with whom the magnetic navigation system was used to a control group of 29 children who had conventional manual ablation.
With the magnetic navigation system, the overall procedure time was reduced from an average of 204 minutes to 139 minutes, and from an average of 28 minutes of fluoroscopy use to 13 minutes. The outcomes of both types of ablation procedures were comparable.
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