Estech has announced the market release of its Cobra Fusion ablation system. The Cobra Fusion ablation facilitates the cooling effect of the circulating blood inside the heart, and creates transmural (full-thickness) lesions on a beating heart.
According to a company release, this is the first technology of its kind to use a unique suction application and innovative electrode configuration to gently pull the tissue targeted for ablation into the device and out of the path of circulating blood.
Cobra Fusion incorporates proprietary Versapolar technology which delivers both bipolar and monopolar radiofrequency (RF) energy to the targeted cardiac tissue, enabling transmural lesion formation in thin and thick cardiac tissue. The new system contains Estech’s patented temperature controlled radiofrequency (TCRF) energy which continuously monitors and maintains tissue temperature at target levels throughout the procedure. TCRF avoids the need for multiple applications that other technologies often require and ensures that tissue temperatures remain within a safe and effective range.
James L Cox,the pioneer and creator of the Cox-Maze procedure said: “I have had the recent opportunity to observe the clinical use of this new device in several patients. The historical problem of attaining atrial wall transmurality reliably in a beating, working heart by applying ablative energy from the epicardium only, appears to have been solved with this new device.”
“The ability to involute the atrial wall into the ablation device itself using suction allows for the application of radiofrequency energy to both sides of the involuted tissue, thereby creating reproducible transmural and contiguous linear lesions for the first time off-pump. Moreover, the device is small enough to fit through a standard port, using an endoscopic port-access approach. I believe that this device represents a significant addition to the surgeon’s armamentarium in the field of cardiac ablation,” said Cox who is the Evarts A Graham professor of Surgery emeritus, chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery Emeritus, Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
“We have evaluated this new device in our animal lab and were very impressed with the results. It is an innovative device that has the potential to facilitate minimally invasive surgical ablation. It is likely to advance the field by improving lesion formation on the beating heart,” said Ralph J Damiano, John M Shoenberg professor of Surgery, chief of Cardiac Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
The Cobra Fusion ablation system received FDA clearance in April 2012, CE mark in May 2012.
