System and method for ablating a tissue site by electroporation with real-time monitoring of treatment progress
AssigneesVirginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., AngioDynamics, Inc.
InventorsRobert Neal, II, Rafael V. Davalos
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A medical system for ablating a tissue site with real-time monitoring during an electroporation treatment procedure. A pulse generator generates a pre-treatment (PT) test signal prior to the treatment procedure and intra-treatment (IT) test signals during the treatment procedure. A treatment control module determines impedance values from the PT test signal and IT test signals and determines a progress of electroporation and an end point of treatment in real-time based on the determined impedance values while the treatment progresses.
Claims19
A medical system comprising:
- an electrical pulse generator capable of being operatively coupled to one or more electrodes;
- processing circuitry coupled to the electrical pulse generator;
- and
- a memory coupled to the processing circuitry, the memory comprising instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry are capable of causing the medical system to:
- generate, by the electrical pulse generator, one or more pre-treatment (PT) test signals and to generate one or more intra-treatment (IT) test signals, wherein the IT test signals comprise a direct current signal;
- and
- determine an effect on tissue in a target region by a plurality of electrical pulses based on a difference between one or more electrical properties of the tissue in the target region associated with application of the one or more of the PT test signals to the tissue in the target region and one or more electrical properties of the tissue in the target region associated with application of the one or more of the IT test signals to the tissue in the target region.
An electrical energy based system comprising:
- a treatment control module and a processor coupled to an electrical pulse generator, the electrical pulse generator capable of being operatively coupled to one or more probes with electrodes and configured to apply a plurality of electrical pulses capable of causing irreversible electroporation of cells or tissue, one or more pre-treatment (PT) test signals, and one or more intra-treatment (IT) test signals;
- when executed by the processor, the treatment control module is capable of determining one or more of current, conductance or impedance from the one or more of the PT test signals and from the one or more of the IT test signals.
A method of determining progress of an electrical energy based treatment comprising:
- applying one or more pre-treatment (PT) test signals with at least one electrode to cells or tissue;
- determining one or more electrical properties of the cells or tissue based on the one or more of the PT test signals;
- delivering an electroporation treatment by applying a plurality of electrical pulses to the cells or tissue and inducing electroporation of the cells or of cells of the tissue;
- applying one or more intra-treatment (IT) test signals with at least one electrode to the cells or tissue;
- determining one or more electrical properties of the cells or tissue based on the one or more of the IT test signals;
- and
- determining a progress of the electroporation treatment based on any change in one or more of the electrical properties based on the one or more IT test signals and the one or more PT test signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.