Navigation platform for a medical device, particularly an intracardiac catheter

#The invention relates to a system and a method for assisting a user in navigating a medical device in a region of a patient body. Moreover, the invention relates to a computer program for carrying out the method. The region of the patient body may particularly be a cardiac chamber and the medical device may particularly be an intracardiac catheter or another intracardiac device.

#Interventional cardiology procedures, including electrophysiology (EP) and structural heart disease (SHD) procedures rely on the use of fluoroscopy that allows real-time visualization of the anatomy and of radiopaque devices used in these procedures. The major disadvantage of fluoroscopy is however the exposure of the patient and staff to radiation doses. Therefore, there is a trend and desire to minimize the use of fluoroscopy during these procedures. Another disadvantage of fluoroscopy is the inability to visualize soft-tissue structures.

#Ultrasound (US) imaging is also often used in these procedures, including intracardiac echocardiography (ICE), transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). US imaging has the advantage that it allows for the visualization of soft-tissue structures and blood flow without harmful scatter radiation. Devices such as catheters and needles can be visualized using ultrasound. However, it is often difficult to identify the tip of such a device, in particular when using two-dimensional ultrasound, because the device can be out of the imaged plane and because shadowing and reverberations complicate the identification of the tip.

#In the following drawings:

#FIG. 1 schematically and exemplarily shows components of a system for navigating a medical device in a region of a patient body,

#FIG. 2 schematically and exemplarily shows a three-dimensional model of a left atrium of a heart,

#FIG. 1 schematically and exemplarily shows components of a system for navigating a medical device 1 in a region of a patient body, which may particularly correspond to a cardiac chamber. The system allows for visualizing the relevant region of the patient body and a position and/or orientation of one or more medical device(s) 1 used in the region of the patient body to a physician performing an interventional procedure using the medical device. On the basis of the generated visualizations, the physician can steer the medical device 1 during the interventional procedure.

#The medical device 1 may be a catheter, particularly an ablation catheter, a needle or a guidewire, for example. The system may particularly be used for carrying out structural heart disease procedures including valve replacement/repair (e.g. Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), mitraclip, pulmonic valve, tricuspid valve etc.) and occlusions (e.g. ASD/PFO closure, VSD closure, left atrial appendage closure, etc.). Moreover, the system may be used in electrophysiology (EP) studies with ablation, including catheter ablation procedure for treatment of arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation (AF).

#The system comprises a miniaturized US probe 2 which includes an US transducer for emitting US signals and for sensing echoes of the US signals in order to generate US images with respect to a certain field of view. During the interventional procedure, the US probe 2 is inserted into the patient body to acquire live US images of the relevant body region essentially in real-time. In order to insert the US probe 2 into the patient body, it may be attached to a catheter or a similar elongated device.