Modeling a microwave catheter antenna for cardiac ablation

Studies the possibility of using microwave energy for cardiac ablation as an alternative to RF energy since the latter has several clinical limitations. For this endeavor, a computer code, based on the powerful finite element method, was developed and used to design a prototype circular microwave catheter antenna; its volume heating was studied and compared to that of an RF electrode of similar dimensions and found that the former yields a lesion size twice as large as the latter while respecting most of the clinical considerations.<>