METHOD OF DETERMINING SITES FOR ARRHYTHMIA ABLATION

摘要

A method of locating infarcted myocardial tissue in a beating heart includes the step of inserting an impedance measuring tip (10) of a catheter (14) into the chamber of the beating heart and measuring the impedance of the endocardium at various locations within the beating heart. The values measured are compared to impedance values with a predetermined range of values (22) to identify an infarcted area of myocardium and distinguish such area from normal myocardium (20). The measurements are also compared to a range of values for an infarction border zone. The infarction border zone is a significant source of arrhythmia, and particularly of ventricular tachycardia. In accordance with the methods of the present invention, the risk of arrhythmia in a beating heart may be substantially reduced or eliminated by ablating endocardium within the infarction border zone utilizing the same catheter tip.