Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100168570 | Methods and Apparatus for Utilizing Impeller-Based Rotationally-Scanning Catheters - An ablation catheter includes a tubular catheter body having a lumen, a tip portion, a liquid inlet, at least one liquid outlet, a liquid flow path defined between the liquid inlet and the liquid outlet, and an ablation element mounted on the tip portion of the catheter body. A rotationally-scanning ultrasound assembly is disposed within the lumen of the catheter body adjacent the tip portion. The ultrasound assembly includes an ultrasound transducer having an active face, an acoustic mirror acoustically coupled to the active face of the ultrasound transducer, and an impeller positioned in the liquid flow path and operably coupled to at least one of the ultrasound transducer and the acoustic mirror to impart rotational motion thereto when a liquid flows through the impeller. | 07-01-2010 |
20100168572 | Apparatus and Methods for Acoustic Monitoring of Ablation Procedures - A system for ablating tissue includes a catheter having an elongate body, with at least one ablation element (e.g., RF electrode) and at least one acoustic transducer located within the body's tip region. The transducer receives acoustic signals from proximate the tip region. The system also includes a monitoring unit coupled to the transducer to interpret the received acoustic signals as data regarding at least one therapeutic parameter (e.g., pre-pop detection, lesion making progress, tissue interface detection, tissue contact force, tissue contact establishment, bubble spatial distribution, bubble depth, bubble size, bubble size distribution, tissue interface distance, tissue interface position, tissue attenuation, tissue thickness, lesion spectral fingerprint). The monitoring unit is operable to provide feedback to a practitioner, such as graphical, audible, and/or haptic output of sensed data, and may also be operable to control operation of the at least one ablation element in response thereto. | 07-01-2010 |
20110028848 | Methods and Apparatus for Detecting and Mapping Tissue Interfaces - A device for measuring a spatial location of a tissue surface, such as the interface between different types of tissues or between tissue and body fluids, generally includes an elongate catheter body having a distal end portion, a plurality of localization elements carried by the distal end portion, and at least one pulse-echo acoustic element carried by the distal end portion. The localization elements allow the catheter to be localized (e.g., position and/or orientation) within a localization field, while the acoustic element allows for the detection of tissue surfaces where incoming acoustic energy will reflect towards the acoustic element. A suitable controller can determine the location of the detected tissue surface from the localization of the distal end portion of the catheter body. Tissue thicknesses can be derived from the detected locations of multiple (e.g., near and far) tissue surfaces. Maps and models of tissue thickness can also be generated. | 02-03-2011 |
20120265069 | ACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER FOR PULSE-ECHO MONITORING AND CONTROL OF THERMALLY ABLATIVE LESIONING IN LAYERED AND NONLAYERED TISSUES, CATHETER CONTACT MONITORING, TISSUE THICKNESS MEASUREMENT AND PRE-POP WARNING - An ablation catheter with acoustic monitoring comprises an elongated catheter body; a distal member disposed adjacent a distal end and including an ablation element to ablate a biological member at a target region outside the catheter body; and one or more acoustic transducers each configured to direct an acoustic beam toward a respective target ablation region and receive reflection echoes therefrom. The distal member includes a transducer housing in which the acoustic transducers are disposed, the transducer housing including at least one transducer window which is the only portion in the distal member through which the acoustic beam passes, at least the at least one transducer window portion of the distal member being made of a material comprising at least 50% carbon by volume, the transducer window material having an acoustic impedance between that of the acoustic transducers and that of the biological member. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265070 | SINGLE TRANSDUCER WITH ANGULAR ORIENTATION FOR LESION FEEDBACK IN ABLATION CATHETER - An ablation catheter comprises: an elongated catheter body extending along a longitudinal axis; at least one ablation element disposed in a distal portion which is adjacent the distal end of the catheter body to ablate a targeted tissue region outside the catheter body; a single pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer disposed in the distal portion and arranged to emit and receive an acoustic beam along a centroid in a beam direction, at a transducer angle of about 30-60 degrees relative to a distal direction of the longitudinal axis at a location of intersection between the longitudinal axis and the beam direction of the centroid of the acoustic beam; and a mechanism to manipulate the distal portion in movement including rotation of at least the distal portion around the longitudinal axis. The single ultrasonic transducer emits and receives acoustic pulses to provide lesion information in the targeted tissue region being ablated. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265184 | OPTICAL FEEDBACK RF ABLATOR AND ABLATOR TIP - An ablation catheter comprises an elongated catheter body; at least one ablation element disposed in a distal portion which is adjacent the distal end of the catheter body; an illumination optical element disposed in the distal portion, the illumination optical element being light-transmissive to emit light from the illumination optical element to the targeted tissue region; and a collection optical element disposed in the distal portion, the collection optical element being light-transmissive to collect one or more of returned, backscattered or newly excited light from the targeted tissue region. The illumination or excitation optical element and the collection optical element are axially spaced from one another and axially optically isolated from one another within the distal portion to substantially prevent light from traveling between the illumination optical element and the collection optical element along a path within the distal portion. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265192 | ARRANGEMENT AND INTERFACE FOR RF ABLATION SYSTEM WITH ACOUSTIC FEEDBACK - A system for ablation with acoustic feedback comprises: a catheter which includes an elongated catheter body; at least one ablation element to ablate a targeted tissue region; and a pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer arranged to emit and receive an acoustic beam along a centroid in a beam direction, at a transducer beam angle of between about 30 degrees and about 60 degrees relative to a distal direction of the longitudinal axis at a location of intersection between the longitudinal axis and the beam direction of the centroid of the acoustic beam of the ultrasonic transducer, wherein the transducer transmits and receives acoustic pulses to provide lesion information in the targeted tissue region; an ablation power subsystem; an ultrasonic transmit and receive subsystem to operate the ultrasonic transducer; a control subsystem to control operation of the ablation power subsystem and the ultrasonic transmit and receive subsystem; and a display. | 10-18-2012 |
20120302882 | COMBINATION CATHETER FOR FORWARD AND SIDE LESIONING WITH ACOUSTIC LESION FEEDBACK CAPABILITY - An ablation system comprises a catheter including a pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer disposed in a distal portion and arranged to emit and receive an acoustic beam. The transducer emits and receives acoustic pulses to provide transducer detected information regarding the targeted tissue region being ablated. A rotation mechanism rotates at least the distal portion around a longitudinal axis of the catheter. A control and interface system processes the transducer detected information and provides feedback to a user via a user interface and/or the control and interface system to be used to control ablation. The transducer detected information includes a detected lesion depth along a beam emanation direction. The control and interface system includes a lesion depth correction module which converts the detected lesion depth along the beam direction to a corrected lesion depth in a normal direction which is perpendicular to the tissue surface in contact with the ablation element. | 11-29-2012 |
20130046320 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COOLING AND MOVING ABLATION ELEMENTS - A medical device comprising a cell including an ablation element and a carrier configured to receive at least a portion of said ablation element is disclosed. The medical device further comprises a tube enclosing the cell. At least a portion of the tube includes a membrane and the tube includes at least one hole proximate the ablation element for facilitating fluid flow. The medical device further comprises a fluid inlet for providing fluid to the interior of the tube. A method of using the medical device is also disclosed. | 02-21-2013 |
20140031806 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COOLING AND MOVING ABLATION ELEMENTS - A medical device comprising a cell including an ablation element and a carrier configured to receive at least a portion of said ablation element is disclosed. The medical device further comprises a tube enclosing the cell. At least a portion of the tube includes a membrane and the tube includes at least one hole proximate the ablation element for facilitating fluid flow. The medical device further comprises a fluid inlet for providing fluid to the interior of the tube. A method of using the medical device is also disclosed. | 01-30-2014 |
20140276006 | FORCE-SENSING ABLATION CATHETER - A force-sensing tip assembly for a catheter comprises a tip shell, an acoustic transducer, a first target, and a first spring. The tip shell is for joining to the catheter. The acoustic transducer is disposed within the tip shell and is capable of generating an acoustic ping. The first target is spaced from the acoustic transducer within the tip shell. The first spring is in the tip shell and configured to allow a relative position between the acoustic transducer and the first target to change over a range. The first target is shaped and positioned to reflect at least a portion of the acoustic ping back to the acoustic transducer as a first echo over at least a portion of the range. | 09-18-2014 |
20140276692 | Pressure Sensing of Irrigant Backpressure for Aligning Directional Medical Devices with Target Tissue - The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for aligning directionally operable medical devices with and upon target tissue. In particular, the instant disclosure relates to systems and methods for aligning medical devices such as directional ablation catheters to and upon target tissue by monitoring irrigant backpressure. | 09-18-2014 |
20150066014 | Ultrasonic lesion feedback, antipop monitoring, and force detection - An ablation catheter comprises: an elongated catheter body extending longitudinally between a proximal end and a distal end along a longitudinal axis; a distal member disposed adjacent the distal end, the distal member including an ablation element to ablate a biological member; one or more acoustic transducers disposed in the distal member and each configured to direct an acoustic signal toward a respective target ablation region and receive reflection echoes therefrom; and an acoustic redirection member disposed in the distal member to at least partially redirect the acoustic signal from at least one of the acoustic transducers toward a tissue target. The distal member includes a most-distal portion, a proximal portion, and a deflectable portion between the most-distal portion and proximal portion to permit deflection between the most-distal portion and proximal portion of the distal member. The transducers and redirection member are mounted on opposite sides of the deflectable portion. | 03-05-2015 |