Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States, and in 2010 was responsible for 17% of the US health expenditures ($272.5 billion) [1]. Many acquired cardiovascular diseases are associated with abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (e.g. heart attack) or irregular electrical pathways (e.g. arrhythmia). Of the various methods applied to manage cardiovascular diseases, using energy-based technologies to create myocardial lesions (i.e. “ablation”) has gained increasing popularities due to their effectiveness, short treatment times, and minimal surgical damages.
Radiofrequency (RF) energy was one of the earliest technologies used for catheter ablation and currently has the greatest patient-year experience [2]. It should be noted that several other thermal technologies, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), catheter-based cryo, focused laser, and microwaves, have also been proposed as potential sources for cardiovascular ablation. However, to date, each of these sources relies on direct...