Cardiac Tissue Ablation with HIFU Energy

A high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system allows an ablation device to be placed on the outside of a beating heart and deliver HIFU energy across the wall of the heart to create precise and complete lines of cardiac tissue ablation to treat atrial fibrillation (AF).

In the first case to date, the system was successfully used to treat a 71-year-old male with paroxysmal AF and co-morbid coronary artery disease. The system was originally developed by Epicor Medical, which was acquired by St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, MN, USA) in June 2004. St. Jude has worked closely with Dr. James Cox, emeritus professor of surgery, Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA) to develop its HIFU ablation system and the related surgical procedure. Dr. Cox is the developer of the Cox-Maze surgical procedure for the treatment of AF.

In the Cox-Maze procedure, maze-like patterns are cut in the left atrial tissue, blocking the pathways that propagate AF. The technique is nearly 90% effective but highly invasive for patients and technically challenging. The HIFU technology allows doctors to safely and effectively create a simplified maze lesion pattern through a less-invasive approach without placing patients on a cardiopulmonary bypass system and arresting their hearts.

"This technology has the potential not only to improve the cure rate for atrial fibrillation but also to increase the number of patients who can be treated for this widely prevalent disease,” commented Dr. Cox.




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