'Basket' Catheter Helps Eliminate Ventricular Tachycardia

Jefferson cardiologists recently made history by using a multielectrode basket catheter (EP Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA) to help map the heart for catheter ablation in the lower ventricle of a 52-year-old man. This is the first time a basket catheter has been used in the heart's lower chamber to guide successful ablation.

Arnold Greenspon, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Jefferson, performed the procedure and believes that the patient's history made him the perfect candidate.

"The patient had multiple heart attacks and bypass surgery," explains Dr. Greenspon. "He developed frequent episodes of ventricular tachycardia, or rapid beating of the heart, which were controlled for a time by an implanted cardiac defibrillator and medications. Upon arriving at Jefferson, he was experiencing incessant ventricular tachycardia with a heart rate of 130 that was no longer responding to medications. With the help of the basket catheter, we were able to eliminate the tachycardia and restore the patient's heart rate to a normal level."

The catheter Dr. Greenspon used carries thin collapsible wires in the shape of a basket. These wires expand and conform to the shape of the cardiac chamber. They carry 64 electrodes that quickly map the heart to help identify the critical areas within the ventricular tachycardia circuit. These electrodes send signals to a computer that doctors interpret to decide where to perform catheter ablation, or the obliteration of damaged heart tissue.

"The basket catheter gives us a huge advantage over standard catheters, which have a much smaller number of electrodes and make the mapping process slow and imprecise," says Dr. Greenspon. "The basket catheter also let us enter the lower chamber of the heart, which has always been a difficult area to navigate. Our patient is doing extremely well. It is encouraging to see how technology can help us do things that were once impossible."