Methods
TSP was performed on freshly excised porcine hearts using an electrified 0.014” or 0.032” guidewire under various power settings compared to TSP using a dedicated RF wire with 5W power (0.035” VersaCross RF System, Baylis Medical, Montreal, Canada). The primary endpoint was the number of attempts required to achieve TSP. Secondary endpoints included the rate of TSP failure, TSP consistency, effect of the distance between tip of the guidewire and the tip of the dilator, and effect of RF power output level. Qualitative secondary endpoints included tissue puncture defect appearance, thermal damage to the TSP guidewire or dilator, and tissue temperature using thermal imaging.