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Cardiac catheters that eliminate (ablate) regions of endocardial tissue that give rise to or support cardiac arrhythmia (arrhythmogenic myocardium). Multielectrode catheters for radio-frequency ablation at several hundred kHz frequency are mostly used, but several different catheters have been used or tested for cardiac ablation, including multielectrode catheters for DC ablation that typically apply 200 to 400 J discharges from a defibrillator; microwave ablation catheters that include helical antennas, thermocouples, and special electrodes; and double-lumen infusion catheters for sequential administration of mapping and ablation injectants into endocardial target sites. These catheters may be used for interruption of atrioventricular (AV) conduction pathways, treatment of AV nodal reentrant tachycardia, creation of complete AV block in some cases of atrial arrhythmias, treatment of atrial flutter/fibrillation, and treatment of ectopic atrial tachycardia.
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