Accuracy
For clinical use, the error of force-sensing catheters ideally should be
as low as possible and the accuracy should be independent of other
parameters such as catheter-to-tissue angle. Bourier et al. found an
overall mean error of 1.2g for the Tacticath™ catheter
when measuring at different contact angles, with individual catheters,
irrigation, and catheter deflection14. Irrigation and
deflection did not have an influence on the accuracy of the sensor and
therefore were not repeated here.
Further, the contact angle may influence the accuracy, as the individual
sensors on each axis are strained differently. In that regard, we did
not find a decreased accuracy for contact parallel to tissue, however,
it seems that the Z-axis sensor of Stablepoint™ is too
sensitive. For comparison, Bourier et al. found a decreased accuracy for
the SmartTouch® catheter at 90° of
contact19.