Understanding the technology
About This Technology.
The HD Grid 3D Mapping System is a mapping catheter with electrodes arranged in a grid on a flexible tip. It records the heart's electrical signals from many points at once and in several directions. The data go to a 3D mapping system, which builds a detailed map that can reveal gaps in an ablation line or scar tissue.
What Is the HD Grid 3D Mapping System?
To build an electrical map of the heart, your doctor moves a mapping catheter inside a heart chamber and records signals from each point it touches. HD Grid is a mapping catheter made by Abbott with a flat, flexible tip on which electrodes (recording points) are arranged in a grid. It works with the EnSite X 3D mapping system: HD Grid acts as the sensor, while the mapping system builds and displays the map.
How Is It Different From a Standard Mapping Catheter?
- Many points at once. A standard mapping catheter records from only a few points at a time. The grid layout of HD Grid records many points together, so each touch collects more data.
- Signals read in several directions. With a standard bipolar catheter, signal size can change depending on how the catheter faces the direction of the electrical wave. Because HD Grid electrodes are lined up in two directions, signals can be read in several directions, so the result depends less on catheter position.
- Helping find gaps. Gaps in an earlier ablation line can allow an arrhythmia to return, yet they can be hard to see with a standard bipolar catheter. The dense recording points of HD Grid help your doctor look for them.
When a Detailed Map Is Needed
HD Grid is used when your doctor needs a detailed map, for example in atrial fibrillation ablation, repeat ablation after an arrhythmia returns, atypical atrial flutter, and scar mapping in ventricular tachycardia. This catheter is for mapping only. The ablation itself is done with a separate ablation catheter using heat, cold, or pulsed electrical fields.
During the Procedure
HD Grid is inserted through a vein in the groin along with other catheters, as part of an electrophysiology study or ablation. You will not feel the signal recording. Preparation, anesthesia, and recovery follow the main procedure, as described on the Electrophysiology (EP) Laboratory page.
What You Should Know
A more detailed map helps your doctor make decisions, but it does not guarantee that the arrhythmia will not return. An extra catheter inside the heart carries the usual risks of catheter procedures, which your doctor will explain beforehand. Not every ablation needs HD Grid; your electrophysiologist chooses the catheter that suits your type of arrhythmia.
Clinical use
Uses and Benefits.
Whether this technology suits your condition is decided by a doctor after an evaluation.
- Recording electrical signals from many points inside a heart chamber at the same time
- Building detailed maps for atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter ablation
- Finding gaps in earlier ablation lines during a repeat ablation
- Mapping scar tissue in ventricular tachycardia
- Checking whether the pulmonary veins are isolated after ablation
Benefits for the Doctor's Assessment
Many Points in a Single Touch
Electrodes arranged in a grid record many points each time the catheter touches the heart wall, so the map is built from dense data.
Signals Less Dependent on Catheter Direction
Signals are read in several directions, so their size is less affected by how the catheter faces the electrical wave.
Helps Find Gaps in Ablation Lines
Dense data help your doctor find small gaps in an ablation line that can be hard to see with a standard bipolar catheter.
Shown Directly on the EnSite X Map
Data from HD Grid appear on the EnSite X 3D map, together with catheter positions and ablation points.
Brief Technical Information
- Device type
- Multielectrode mapping catheter with a grid layout
- Function
- Records heart signals from many points at once, in several directions
- Manufacturer
- Abbott
- Works with
- EnSite X EP System 3D mapping
- Radiation
- Emits no radiation; used within a procedure that may involve X-ray
- Service location
- Electrophysiology (EP) Laboratory, Arrhythmia and Device Center
