Pulsed field ablation catheters take shape at Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Abbott and J&J’s Biosense Webster

Experts from Medtech Big 100 device developers — Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Abbott and Boston Scientific — discuss the various shapes of their pulsed field ablation (PFA) catheters.

From flowers and loops to globes, baskets and balloons, there’s no standard shape for the pulsed field ablation (PFA) catheters coming out of Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Abbott and Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Biosense Webster.

PFA’s tissue-selective energy kills cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells) to block irregular signals that cause atrial fibrillation (AFib), but spares phrenic nerves and nerves in the esophagus.

These PFA catheter shapes offer unique abilities for cardiac ablation to treat AFib, said engineers and leaders at these companies — some of the world’s largest medical device manufacturers — in interviews with Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Medtronic PulseSelect

In late 2023, Medtronic’s PulseSelect became the first PFA system to win FDA approval for treating AFib. Medtronic tested other form factors — such as focal and linear catheters — before choosing the 25 mm loop shape for PulseSelect, said Tim Laske, VP of research and business development for Medtronic Cardiac Ablation Solutions.

“PulseSelect has nitinol superstructure, which allows it to compress down [for delivery] through a 10-Fr catheter, and then it’s deployed in a very predictable shape,” Laske said.

The catheter also “has a 20-degree forward cant that gives you an indication of when you’re in contact with a tissue,” he said. “Then as you make contact, it also biases toward all of the electrodes touching the tissue, not just the ones that are in contact.”

PulseSelect’s loop shape allows for single-shot ablation, which is the delivery of energy across multiple parts of the pulmonary vein for a procedure that can be simpler and faster.

Read the rest of this article — including discussions of PFA catheter shapes with experts from Boston Scientific, Abbott and Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Biosense Webster — at Medical Design & Outsourcing.