Irrigated ablation catheter having irrigation ports with reduced hydraulic resistance
AssigneeBiosense Webster (Israel) Ltd.
InventorsJeffrey L. Clark, Jeffry Tola
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An irrigated ablation catheter includes a tip electrode with a thin shell and a plug to provide a plenum chamber. The tip electrode has an inlet of a predetermined size and noncircular shape, and outlets in the form of fluid ports formed in the thin shell wall. The plurality of the fluid ports is predetermined, as is their diameter. Each fluid port has a tapered configuration, for example, a frustoconical configuration, with a smaller inlet diameter and a larger outlet diameter.
Claims20
An irrigated ablation catheter, comprising:
- an elongated catheter body;
- a deflectable section distal to the catheter body;
- a tip electrode distal to the deflectable section, the tip electrode comprising:
- an outer shell defining a cavity, the shell having a predetermined plurality of fluid ports, each contributing to a total fluid output area of the tip electrode, the outer shell having a shell wall thickness between about 0.003 inch and about 0.004 inch;
- an internal member including a fluid inlet into the tip electrode, the fluid inlet having a fluid input area;
- wherein each fluid port is tapered and has a fluid port aspect ratio of less than 3.25, and either:
- each fluid port has an inner inlet diameter between about 0.003 inch and about 0.004 inch, or
- each fluid port has an outer outlet diameter between about 0.004 inch and about 0.005 inch.
An irrigated ablation catheter, comprising:
- an elongated catheter body;
- a deflectable section distal to the catheter body;
- a tip electrode distal to the deflectable section, the tip electrode having a predetermined plurality of fluid ports, each contributing to a total fluid output area of the tip electrode, the tip electrode also having a fluid inlet with a fluid input area;
- wherein the tip electrode has a diffusion ratio less than about 1.8, and each fluid port has a tapered configuration with a taper angle between about 0 and about 10 degrees.
An irrigated ablation catheter, comprising:
- an elongated catheter body;
- a deflectable section distal to the catheter body;
- a tip electrode distal to the deflectable section, the tip electrode comprising:
- an outer shell defining a cavity, the outer shell having a predetermined plurality of fluid ports, each contributing to a total fluid output area of the tip electrode;
- an internal member including a fluid inlet into the tip electrode, the fluid inlet having a fluid input area;
- wherein the tip electrode has a predetermined diffusion ratio less than about 2.0, a predetermined fluid port ratio and a predetermined inlet aspect ratio, and the cavity has an inner cross-section that varies along a length of the tip electrode, and
- wherein each fluid port has a tapered configuration with a taper angle ranging from greater than 0 to about 10 degrees.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.