Atrial fibrillation is a common and potentially lethal arrhythmia, yet catheter radiofrequency ablation (RFA), a mainstay of treatment, frequently fails to provide long-term remission. We present a catheter capable of near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, with a source fiber delivering broadband light and a detection fiber whose light is sent to a spectrometer. Separate catheters have been fabricated with different source-detection separations, yielding spectra sensitive to different optical properties of the underlying tissue. Optical indices have been developed from benchtop measurements to distinguish the spectral signatures of different cardiac substrates. These measurements will equip clinicians with intraprocedural feedback to improve RFA effectiveness.
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