Comparing the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias during epicardial ablation in swine vs. canine models.

BACKGROUND: Choosing the appropriate animal model for development of novel technologies requires an understanding of anatomy and physiology of these different models. There is little data about the characteristics of different animal models for the study of technologies used for epicardial ablation. We aimed to compare the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias during epicardial radiofrequency ablation between swine and canine models using novel epicardial ablation catheters.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study using data obtained from epicardial ablation experiments performed on swine (Sus Scrofa) and canine (Canis familiaris) models. We compared the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias during ablation between swine and canine using multivariate regression analysis. Six swine and six canine animals underwent successful epicardial radiofrequency ablation. 103 ablation applications were recorded.

RESULTS: Ventricular arrhythmias requiring cardioversion occurred 13.11% of radiofrequency ablation applications in swine and 9.75% in canine (Relative Risk 117.6%, 95% CI: 83.97-164.69, animal-based OR 0.55, 95% CI: 0.23-61.33; p = 0.184). When adjusting for application position, duration of ablation and power, the odds of developing potentially lethal ventricular arrhythmia in swine increased significantly compared to canine (Odds Ratio 3.60, 95% CI: 1.35-9.55; p = 0.010).

CONCLUSIONS: The swine myocardium is more susceptible to developing ventricular arrhythmias compared to canine model during epicardial ablation. This issue should be carefully considered in future studies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.