Ablation of a hard-to-access region
AssigneeBiosense Webster (Israel) Ltd.
InventorsAssaf Govari, Christopher Thomas Beeckler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus includes a shaft and an inflatable balloon coupled to a distal end of the shaft. The balloon includes a proximal portion that is electrically-conducting over at least half of a proximal-portion circumference of the proximal portion, a distal portion that is electrically-conducting over at least half of a distal-portion circumference of the distal portion, and an electrically-insulating middle portion that insulates the proximal portion from the distal portion. Other embodiments are also described.
Claims22
Apparatus, comprising:
- a shaft;
- and
- an inflatable balloon coupled to a distal end of the shaft, the balloon comprising:
- a proximal portion that is electrically-conducting over at least half of a proximal-portion circumference of the proximal portion;
- a distal portion that is electrically-conducting over at least half of a distal-portion circumference of the distal portion;
- and
- an electrically-insulating middle portion that insulates the proximal portion from the distal portion.
A probe, comprising:
- a guidewire configured to access tissue of a human subject by traversing a lumen of the tissue;
- a tube, dimensioned to access and penetrate into the lumen while being threaded over the guidewire, the tube being shaped to define a tube lumen;
- and
- a plurality of expandable electrodes configured to:
- traverse the tube lumen,
- subsequently to traversing the tube lumen, expand distally to a distal end of the tube, and
- while at least one of the expanded electrodes contacts the tissue, convey ablation energy to the tissue by virtue of electrical current passing between the electrodes.
A method for ablating tissue of a human subject, the method comprising:
- inserting a guidewire into a lumen of the human subject;
- threading a tube over the guidewire, the tube being dimensioned to penetrate the lumen so that a distal end of the tube is in proximity to a target region to be ablated;
- after threading the tube over the guidewire, traversing a plurality of expandable electrodes through the tube;
- subsequently to traversing the expandable electrodes through the tube, causing the expandable electrodes to expand distally to the distal end of the tube such that at least one of the expandable electrodes contacts the target region to be ablated;
- and
- by passing electrical current between the expandable electrodes, conveying electrical energy to the contacted target region so as to ablate the target region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.