Background: Blood flow near a radiofrequency (RF) lesion can reduce lesion size by convective cooling. It is unknown whether blood flow through small vasculature within an RF lesion can prevent transmural lesion formation.
Methods and results: In 40 rabbit right ventricle preparations, 2 epicardial RF lesions were created straddling a selectively perfused (0 to 12 mL/min) marginal artery (diameter, 0.34+/-0.1 mm). RF lesions were created at either 60 degrees C or 80 degrees C and delivered either sequentially or simultaneously. Conduction through the lesion area was measured. The lesions were analyzed histologically. At a perfusion rate of 0 mL/min, all RF lesions were transmural and without conduction. As little as 1 mL of flow through the artery during RF delivery could prevent transmural lesion formation by preserving a cuff of tissue along the length of the vessel. High-energy delivery (45 W) and very high tissue temperatures (93 degrees C) were needed to overcome the protective effect of vascular perfusion at 12 mL/min. The volume of preserved myocardium was related to arterial perfusion rate, artery diameter, and lesion temperature but not to the sequence of RF delivery (sequential versus simultaneous). Conduction persisted through the RF lesion in 20 experiments. Conduction through the lesion was related to the arterial perfusion rate and volume or cross-sectional area of preserved myocardium.
Conclusions: Flow through even small intramyocardial vessels can prevent transmural lesion formation and preserve conduction through an RF lesion. These findings may represent an unrecognized obstacle to the creation of linear RF lesions in the clinical setting.