Mathematical Modeling of Thermal Ablation Treatments in Heart Arrhythmias

Abstract

Abstract. In this work we develop a model of catheter ablation based on electromagnetic and thermal equations. This model allows the computation of the space and time evolution of temperature in the surroundings of the ablation zone. This result is relevant, as excessive temperature values may cause stream pops or esophageal ulcers. The resulting system of equations is solved using a Chebyshev spectral collocation method. Special attention is paid to the effect of blood perfusion and electrical conductivity, as there is no consensus in the literature concerning the modeling of these terms. In order to obtain the conditions that give rise to safer ablations, a parametric study is performed, where the effect of discharge time, discharge voltage and size of the electrode in the temperature distribution is analysed.