SBIR Phase I: The Development of Signal Sensing, Processing and Mapping Technology to Enable Curative, Patient-Specific Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I期项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发能够识别房颤（AF）驱动因素的诊断技术，这有望为大量服务不足的患者提供新的治疗选择。房颤是最常见、最复杂的心律失常。房颤患者有严重的并发症风险，包括中风、心脏病发作和死亡。房颤患者的治疗选择有限，药物仅在大约一半的时间内有效。消融在治疗其他心律失常方面非常有效，但目前的诊断标测技术在为慢性AF提供定制治疗方面的能力有限。该项目将测试测量AF的新设备的概念。该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将验证新型微电极阵列准确测量动物AF的能力。这一点很重要，因为传统的心内导管缺乏足够的空间分辨率来分辨离散的、紧密间隔的激活。心脏组织激活的准确分辨率对于推断病变组织的性质和规划有效的患者特异性消融治疗至关重要。光学标测是测量组织电激活的黄金标准，因此为比较验证提供了可信的平台。预期的结果是使用新的微电极阵列在绵羊心脏模型上观察复杂的激活模式，并通过光学映射数据证实这些电模式。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the development of a diagnostic technology capable of identifying the drivers of Atrial Fibrillation (AF), which promises to enable new therapeutic options for a large population of under-served patients. AF is the most common and complex cardiac arrythmia. AF patients are at severe risk of complications including stroke, heart attack and death. AF patients have limited treatment options and medications are only effective approximately half of the time. Ablation is highly effective at treating other arrythmias, but current diagnostic mapping technologies are limited in the ability to provide customized treatment for chronic AF. This project will test concepts of a new device to measure AF.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will validate the ability of a novel micro-electrode array to accurately measure AF in an animal. This is important because conventional intra-cardiac catheters lack the spatial resolution to adequately resolve discrete, closely spaced activations. Accurate resolution of cardiac tissue activations is essential to deduce the properties of diseased tissue and to plan effective patient-specific ablation therapy. Optical mapping is a gold standard for measuring electrical activation of tissue and therefore provides a trusted platform for comparative validation. The expected results are to observe complex activation patterns on an ovine heart model using the novel micro-electrode array, and for those electrical patterns to be corroborated by optical mapping data.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.