Monitoring of neuromodulation using biomarkers

A method of assessing efficacy of a renal neuromodulation procedure in a patient, the method comprising:

• transluminally positioning an energy delivery element of a catheter within a target renal blood vessel of the patient and adjacent to target neural fibers innervating a kidney of the patient;
• at least partially ablating the target neural fibers via the energy delivery element;
• wherein an analyzer that is operatively coupled to an elongated shaft of the catheter receives bodily fluid having a post-neuromodulation level of one or more biomarkers,
• determining the post-neuromodulation level for the one or more biomarkers in the bodily fluid using the analyzer that is operatively coupled to the elongated shaft of the catheter, wherein upon receiving the bodily fluid, the analyzer determines the post-neuromodulation level of the one or more biomarkers by at least interacting with the bodily fluid, wherein the bodily fluid is collected from the patient and received by the analyzer after at least partially ablating the target neural fibers, and wherein the post-neuromodulation level of the one or more biomarkers directly or indirectly correlates with sympathetic nervous activity in the patient;
• and
• comparing the post-neuromodulation level to a predetermined level for the one or more biomarkers,
• wherein the renal neuromodulation procedure is classified as at least partially successful if the post-neuromodulation level differs at least about 1% from the predetermined level, and
• wherein one or more of the biomarkers are selected from the group consisting of epinephrine, dopamine, neuropeptide Y, vasopressin, aldosterone, a catecholamine metabolite, or a combined level of norepinephrine and a metabolite thereof.

A method of assessing efficacy of a renal neuromodulation procedure, the method comprising:

• transluminally delivering a distal portion of an elongated shaft of a catheter to a target renal blood vessel of a patient;
• at least partially inhibiting sympathetic neural activity of a renal nerve of the patient via a therapy delivered by a neuromodulation assembly carried by the distal portion of the elongated shaft;
• intravascularly obtaining a volume of fluid including one or more biomarkers using the catheter within 30 minutes after delivery of the therapy by the neuromodulation assembly;
• wherein an analyzer that is operatively coupled to the elongated shaft of the catheter receives the volume of fluid having a post-neuromodulation level of the one or more biomarkers,
• determining the post-neuromodulation level of the one or more biomarkers in the volume of fluid using the analyzer operatively coupled to the elongated shaft, wherein upon receiving the volume of fluid, the analyzer determines the post-neuromodulation level of the one or more biomarkers by at least interacting with the volume of fluid, and wherein the post-neuromodulation level of the one or more biomarkers directly or indirectly correlates with sympathetic nervous activity in the patient;
• and
• comparing the post-neuromodulation level to a predetermined level for the one or more biomarkers,
• wherein the renal neuromodulation procedure is classified as at least partially successful if the post-neuromodulation level differs at least about 1% from the predetermined level.