Enhanced ablation catheter to reduce treatment cost of Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial Fibrillation is a heart condition that affects millions of people. It is currently treated by ablation catheters, but it is difficult to control the ablating energy. Too much energy is dangerous so doctors tend to err on the side of caution. However, this means that in many cases, the condition is not treated adequately and so patients have to be readmitted for further operations. This is bad for patients’ health and expensive for healthcare providers. This project was about identifying better ways to control the energy so that the procedures have a greater chance of working first time. We analysed the current state of the art and emerging technologies. This enabled us to identify technology approaches which could provide the required benefits. We then held a focus group of the world’s leading doctors in this discipline to challenge the various ideas and determine which ones were most likely to succeed from the user’s point of view. We wrote a report on where the technological opportunities lie, what obstacles need to be overcome and which ones are most likely to get adopted by the profession. This enabled us to deduce which technologies should be taken forward to the next stage of development.