Printed circuit board electrodes for transmural cardiac mapping

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Research
• Electrophysiology

Background:

• Plunge needle recording is crucial for understanding transmural activation in cardiac tissue.
• Traditional plunge needle construction is expensive and time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline a method for constructing plunge needles using standard printed circuit board (PCB) technology.
• To present PCB plunge needles as an economical and rapid alternative for cardiac electrophysiology.

Main Methods:

• Utilized standard printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing techniques.
• Constructed and tested plunge needles made from PCB materials.

Main Results:

• PCB plunge needles were significantly less expensive in terms of materials and construction time compared to hypodermic or epoxy needles.
• Performance of PCB plunge needles in recording cardiac signals was comparable to existing methods.

Conclusions:

• PCB plunge needles offer a viable, cost-effective, and rapid alternative for transmural cardiac activation studies.
• This novel technique simplifies the process of creating essential electrophysiological recording tools.