Heat delivery accompanying pulsed field ablation

Abstract

Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) is a technique to achieve pulmonary vein isolation, alternative to the traditional thermal ablation procedures. Instead of delivering or subtracting heat, PFA uses rapid pulses of a high intensity electric field, inducing cells electroporation. PFA is usually claimed not to influence the temperature in the surroundings of the ablation site. Nevertheless, in some case a non-negligible increase of the patient’s luminal esophageal temperature has been observed. Here we set up a mathematical model to provide a theoretical basis to the latter observation, considering a worst case scenario.