In Silico Assessment of a Multipore Electrode Design for High Power Short Duration Ablation

High Power Short Duration (HPSD) ablation is an emerging approach to the radiofrequency catheter ablation for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. New catheter technologies have been introduced accommodating HPSD protocols, featuring multiple pores distributed around the electrode tip among others. Our previous in-silico assessment considered 6-pores electrodes, which were proven to not provide adequate cooling of the blood during the ablation. In this work, we explore the impact of a better electrode cooling system on the HPSD procedure using our previously validated computational model. A new electrode design is considered that consists of 66 irrigation pores based on state-of-the-art catheters used for HPSD. Ablations of 90W applied power for a duration of 4s for different contact forces show improved cooling of the electrode, without any steam pop complications. Yet, multiple pores around the electrode tip are not sufficient for effective blood cooling at low flows.