Cryothermal Ablation

The Cardiac CryoAblation System (Medtronic) uses nitrous oxide gas (cryo energy) to ablate tissue by freezing it. The Balloon catheter comes with two balloon sizes (23mm and 28mm) to accommodate different pulmonary vein sizes. Each balloon is actually composed of two balloons. Nitrous oxide gas is delivered to the inner balloon. The outer balloon is a safety cushion, so the gas doesn’t come into direct contact with heart tissue. After positioning the catheter in the pulmonary vein, the doctor inflates the balloon and delivers the cryo energy to the balloon