St.Jude医疗公司开发出消融心脏组织的高强度聚集超声系统

一种高强度聚集超声系统可以将消融设备放置在跳动的心脏外面，传输高强度聚集超声能量穿过心脏壁进行精确而彻底的心脏组织消融，用来治疗心房纤维性颤动。

迄今为止，该系统成功治疗的第一例患者是一位71岁的阵发性心房纤维性颤动合并冠心病男性患者。这种系统最初由Epicor医疗公司研发的，在2004年6月St.Jude医疗公司(St. Paul, MN, USA)获得了该系统。St.Jude公司与华盛顿大学医学院James Cox医生紧密合作，研发了自己的高强度聚集超声消融系统以及相关的外科手术方案。Cox医生是治疗心房纤维性颤动的Cox-Maze外科手术方案的研发者。

在Cox-Maze方案中，在左心房组织中切除迷宫样模式的组织，阻断传播心房纤维性颤动的途径。该技术有效率达到90％，但是对患者而言属于高度侵入性手术而且技术上富有挑战性。而高强度聚集超声系统允许医生通过侵入性较小的途径安全有效地制造简化星迷宫损伤模式，无需将患者置于心肺旁路支持系统以及将患者心脏停止跳动。

Cox医生说：“该技术不仅能够提高心房纤维性颤动治疗有效率，而且还能够提高这种发病率极高的患者治愈数量。”

Cardiac Tissue Ablation with HIFU Energy
 
A high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system allows an ablation device to be placed on the outside of a beating heart and deliver HIFU energy across the wall of the heart to create precise and complete lines of cardiac tissue ablation to treat atrial fibrillation (AF).

In the first case to date, the system was successfully used to treat a 71-year-old male with paroxysmal AF and co-morbid coronary artery disease. The system was originally developed by Epicor Medical, which was acquired by St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, MN, USA) in June 2004. St. Jude has worked closely with Dr. James Cox, emeritus professor of surgery, Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA) to develop its HIFU ablation system and the related surgical procedure. Dr. Cox is the developer of the Cox-Maze surgical procedure for the treatment of AF.

In the Cox-Maze procedure, maze-like patterns are cut in the left atrial tissue, blocking the pathways that propagate AF. The technique is nearly 90% effective but highly invasive for patients and technically challenging. The HIFU technology allows doctors to safely and effectively create a simplified maze lesion pattern through a less-invasive approach without placing patients on a cardiopulmonary bypass system and arresting their hearts.

“This technology has the potential not only to improve the cure rate for atrial fibrillation but also to increase the number of patients who can be treated for this widely prevalent disease,” commented Dr. Cox.