Cardiac arrhythmias, defined as irregular heartbeats caused by disrupted electrical signaling, remain a major clinical challenge worldwide. Pulsed field ablation (PFA) has recently emerged as a promising treatment due to its ability to selectively ablate arrhythmic tissue while minimizing injury to surrounding structures, offering advantages over thermal methods such as radiofrequency and cryoablation. PFA induces irreversible electroporation by delivering short, high-voltage pulses, leading to targeted cell death. Despite its recent FDA approval and encouraging clinical data, standardized electrode and waveform designs are still lacking to ensure consistent outcomes. This study employs a finite element method (FEM) integrated with a design of experiments (DOE) framework to optimize PFA electrode design. The coupled multiphysics model incorporates electrical, thermal, and fluid dynamic equations to capture the complex interactions during treatment. Using a Taguchi DOE approach, parametric studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of three critical variables in a bipolar electrode configuration (contact depth, active electrode length, and electrode diameter) on PFA outcomes. The computational model was validated against previously reported ex vivo data. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to quantify the effect of each design variable on the irreversible ablation volume and maximum cardiac tissue temperature. Furthermore, simplified statistical correlations were developed to predict ablation volume within the studied design space, enabling rapid predictions without reliance on computationally expensive FEM simulations. These findings highlight the importance of computational modeling in advancing the preclinical development of PFA by providing actionable insights into electrode design strategies and their impact on treatment efficacy and safety.
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Design of Experiment-Based Optimization of Pulsed Field Ablation Electrodes for Treating Cardiac Arrhythmias: A Computational Study
Published:
03 December 2025
by MDPI
in The 6th International Electronic Conference on Applied Sciences
session Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering
Abstract:
Keywords: Cardiac Arrhythmia; Pulse Field Ablation (PFA); Design of experiments (DOE); Bipolar Electrode Optimization; Computational Modeling; Finite Element Method (FEM)
