Suction-Guided Probe Optimizes Cardiac Ablation

Groundbreaking radiofrequency (RF) ablation technology combines the benefits of a bipolar clamp with the flexibility of an endoscopically guided probe.

The Cobra Fusion Ablation System is designed to overcome the most significant challenge faced in minimally invasive epicardial ablation, the cooling effect of the circulating blood inside the heart. This is achieved by using a unique suction application and innovative electrode configuration to gently pull and involute the atrial wall into the ablation device and out of the path of circulating blood, allowing for the application of RF energy to both sides of the involuted tissue, thereby creating reproducible transmural (full thickness) and contiguous linear lesions off‐pump.


The Cobra Fusion Ablation System is powered by patented temperature controlled RF (TCRF) energy, which continuously monitors and maintains tissue temperature at target levels throughout the procedure. The system also incorporates proprietary Versapolar technology, which delivers both bipolar and monopolar RF energy to the targeted cardiac tissue. The bipolar clamping technology is in the form of an epicardial catheter, and is thus capable of creating linear lesions anywhere on a beating heart. The Cobra Fusion Ablation System is a product of Estech (San Ramon, CA, USA), and has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“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,” said professor of surgery Emeritus James Cox, MD, of Barnes‐Jewish Hospital (St. Louis, MO, USA), the pioneer and creator of the Cox‐Maze procedure. “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.”

The Cobra Fusion Ablation System is has been approved by the FDA for temporary cardiac pacing, sensing, recording, and stimulation during the evaluation of cardiac arrhythmias during surgery, when connected to a temporary external cardiac pacemaker or recording device. Estech has received Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval from FDA to begin enrollment in a clinical trial to support a pre-market application (PMA) submission to obtain a specific atrial fibrillation indication in the United States.

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Estech
Barnes‐Jewish Hospital