Systems and methods for navigating a catheter and delivering a needle
AssigneeMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
InventorsMarek Belohlavek, Eileen M. McMahon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for navigating a catheter and delivering a needle to a desired anatomic location are provided. The system includes an injection catheter that includes a needle slidably exposed from, or retracted into, the catheter lumen. The system further includes a first acoustic marker located at a distal end of the catheter and configured to generate an acoustic signal, and a second acoustic marker located at the distal end of the retractable needle and configured to generate an acoustic signal. The acoustic markers allow, in conjunction with a Doppler ultrasound imaging system, identification and navigation of an injection catheter and delivering a needle to a desired anatomic target location.
Claims26
A system, comprising:
- an injection catheter, the injection catheter comprising:
- an outer tube comprising a first lumen;
- an inner tube disposed within the first lumen of the outer tube, the inner tube comprising a second lumen;
- a needle slidably disposed within the second lumen of the inner tube;
- a first acoustic marker proximate to a distal end of the injection catheter and configured to generate a first acoustic signal;
- and
- a second acoustic marker proximate to the distal end of the needle and configured to generate a second acoustic signal.
A method, comprising:
- providing a catheter comprising a catheter tip equipped with a crystalline element adapted to actively generate a first acoustic wave at a first frequency;
- generating, by an ultrasound imaging system including an ultrasound transducer, an image of the catheter tip arranged within a body based on an ultrasound echo produced by ultrasound waves generated by the ultrasound transducer and reflected by the catheter tip;
- detecting, by the ultrasound imaging system, an acoustic interference signal formed by the first acoustic wave generated by the crystalline element and a second acoustic wave generated by the transducer;
- and
- displaying, by the ultrasound imaging system, a position of the catheter tip in response to the detected acoustic interference signal.
A method, comprising:
- producing a first signal having a first frequency using a first acoustic marker located at a catheter tip of an injection catheter, the injection catheter comprising a needle;
- producing a second signal having a second frequency using a second acoustic marker located at a needle tip of the needle;
- and
- receiving by an ultrasound transducer third and fourth signals having third and fourth frequencies,
- wherein the third and fourth frequencies are formed due to interaction of the first signal from the first acoustic marker with the Doppler signal transmitted by an ultrasound imaging transducer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.