The development of a fibre optic catheter tip pressure transducer

There has been much discussion on the distortion of intracardiac pressure waveforms measured by catheter methods. Tip transducers, which can eliminate this waveform distortion, have several problems. There are manufacturing difficulties with the mechano-electric transducing element. The devices also do not remain stable over variations in temperature and with long term clinical use. Safety problems may also be experienced due to the direct connection between external electronic devices and the heart. In order to overcome these difficulties, the application of fibre optics to the measurement of intracardiac pressure has been proposed. In this paper, the design, construction, and evaluation of a side-hole optic catheter, intended for intracardiac pressure measurement, is described.