Development of a real time, patient-specific computational catheter ablation guidance tool utilising personalised structural and functional measurements

Sudden cardiac death due to ventricular arrhythmias remains one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity world-wide. The only curative therapy for many types of such incessant arrhythmias is catheter ablation therapy, which involves ‘burning’ small areas of cardiac tissue to permanently disrupt the problematic electrical pathways. However, it remains a significant challenge for clinicians to accurately and efficiently locate these target ablation sites, leading to punitively low long-term success rates (<50%), along with lengthy procedure times and high complication rates. The goal of our innovation is to develop a pipeline for the generation of anatomically and functionally personalised in-silico cardiac models which will automatically identify optimal ablation sites during the procedure, guiding these invasive interventions. Such a combined imaging and computational approach will enhance the accuracy, robustness and efficiency of ablation target selection above currently used mapping methods.

Our product will significantly improve both the success and safety of catheter ablation procedures, reducing both morbidity and mortality, by shortening procedure times and more successfully permanently terminating arrhythmias in these patients, enhancing patient quality of life and reducing the need for follow-up procedures or sudden arrhythmic death.