Results
540 lesions were examined. The FlexAbilityTM SE
catheter produced smaller lesion depths (4.0mm vs. 4.4mm, p=0.014 at
20W; 4.6mm vs. 5.6mm, p=0.015 at 30W), surface areas
(22.7mm2 vs. 29.2mm2 at 20W,
p=0.005; 23.2mm2 vs. 28.7mm2,
p=0.009 at 30W) and volumes (126.1mm3 vs.
175.1mm3, p=0.018 at 20W; 183.2mm3vs. 304.3mm3, p=0.002 at 30W) with perpendicular
catheter placement. However, no differences were observed with parallel
catheter placement. Steam-pops were significantly less frequently
observed with the FlexAbilityTM SE catheter (4% vs.
22%, p<0.001) irrespective of catheter direction to the
tissue. Multivariate analysis showed that use of the
TactiCathTM SE catheter, power ≥40W, contact force
≥25g, RF duration >30s, parallel angle and impedance drop
≥20Ω were significantly associated with occurrence of steam-pops.