Intravascular energy delivery
AssigneeOtsuka Medical Devices Co., Ltd.
InventorMichael Gertner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method to apply a nerve inhibiting cloud surrounding a blood vessel includes creating a treatment plan, wherein the treatment plan prescribes application of the nerve inhibiting cloud towards at least a majority portion of a circumference of a blood vessel wall, and applying the nerve inhibiting cloud towards the majority portion of the circumference of the blood vessel wall for a time sufficient to inhibit a function of a nerve that surrounds the blood vessel wall.
Claims40
A method of facilitating thermally-induced neuromodulation in a subject, comprising:
- inserting a neuromodulation catheter into a vasculature of the subject;
- advancing a distal end of the neuromodulation catheter to at least one of a first blood vessel or a second blood vessel, the first blood vessel surrounded by one or more sympathetic nerves that innervate a liver of the subject and the second blood vessel surrounded by one or more nerves that innervate a pancreas of the subject;
- and
- at least partially denervating at least one of the first blood vessel or the second blood vessel by delivering ablative energy to at least one of:
- the first blood vessel to at least partially denervate the liver to modulate conversion of glycogen to glucose, or
- the second blood vessel to at least partially denervate the pancreas to alter glucose tolerance of the subject.
A method comprising:
- inserting a first neuromodulation catheter into a vasculature of a patient;
- advancing a distal end of the first neuromodulation catheter to one or more hepatic arteries of the patient;
- and
- at least partially denervating a liver of the patient by delivering ablative energy to the sympathetic nerves surrounding the one or more hepatic arteries, wherein the denervation inhibits conversion of glycogen to glucose by the liver.
A method of affecting one or more nerves surrounding one or more blood vessels in a patient comprising:
- placing a part of an intravascular catheter inside at least one of a hepatic artery or a blood vessel leading to a pancreas of the patient, the
- catheter comprising a piezoelectric component;
- and
- energizing the piezoelectric component to deliver unfocused ultrasound energy towards at least a majority portion of a circumference of at least one of the hepatic artery or the blood vessel leading to the pancreas to thereby reach the one or more sympathetic nerves surrounding at least one of the hepatic artery or the nerves surrounding the blood vessel leading to the pancreas,
- wherein the unfocused ultrasound energy is delivered to create a heated region at at least one of:
- the one or more sympathetic nerves surrounding the hepatic artery to inhibit conversion of glycogen to glucose by the liver, or
- the one or more nerves surrounding the blood vessel leading to the pancreas to improve glucose tolerance of the patient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.