Catheter Systems for Cardiac Arrhythmia Ablation

A device for ablating selected tissue in a body organ chamber, including heart chambers, comprising:

• (a) a guide body sheath having a deflectable distal end portion;
• (b) an electrodeless guidewire having relatively stiff and soft portions and adapted to exit and reenter said deflectable distal end portion of said guide body sheath to form a stable electrodeless guidewire loop that is controllable in the body organ chamber to create forced contact with selected tissue of the heart;
• (c) a catheter guide shaft having an ablating energy element adapted for creating a lesion on the selected tissue, the catheter guide shaft able to travel over and be fully supported by said electrodeless guidewire, said electrodeless guidewire being of sufficient stiffness and controllable to create forced contact between said ablating energy element and said selected tissue at a plurality of desired locations along said stable electrodeless guidewire loop;
• (d) a control handle at a proximal portion of said guide body sheath operatively coupled to the electrodeless guidewire and containing a loop control slide element comprising first and second guidewire locks whereby the size, shape and disposition of the loop can be adjusted and fixed.

A device for ablating selected tissue comprising:

• (a) a guide body sheath having a deflectable distal end portion with an opening therein;
• (b) an ablation catheter sheath extendable from said deflectable distal end portion of said guide body sheath and having a J-shaped distal end portion configured with a leading 180° guiding bend that enables guiding of the device into a pulmonary vein orifice or other conduit and which continues in a form of a trailing loop which is provided with an array of spaced recording and stimulation elements configured to extend circumferentially around an interior surface of said pulmonary vein orifice or other conduit;
• (c) a cryogenic ablation balloon device on said ablation catheter sheath, said cryogenic ablation balloon device being guided, supported on, stabilized and anchorable in position just proximal to said J-shaped distal end portion by said ablation catheter sheath;
• (d) a control handle disposed at a proximal end of the guide body sheath for controlling an extension of said ablation catheter from said guide body sheath, said control handle comprising a locking member whereby the disposition of the ablation catheter sheath can be adjusted and fixed;
• and
• (e) wherein said cryogenic ablation balloon device further comprises a distal ring electrode placed distal to the entire inflatable ablation balloon device and a proximal ring electrode placed proximal to the cryogenic ablation balloon device for measuring impedance during a cryogenic ablation procedure for determining an extent of ice formation on the distal ring electrode, indicative of circumferential ice formation on the outer balloon that extends to cover the distal ring electrode indicating pulmonary vein occlusion and lesion adequacy and maturation.

A device for ablating selected tissue comprising:

• (a) A catheter;
• (b) a catheter handle;
• (c) a controller apparatus coupled to the catheter handle;
• (d) an ablation/recording device coupled to the catheter handle;
• (e) a guidewire extending from the catheter handle, said guidewire comprising a proximal end, a stiff body, soft distal end, and a loop;
• (f) an ablation delivery sheath comprising an ablation element positioned on the ablation delivery sheath,
• wherein the controller apparatus is adapted to lock the soft distal end of the guidewire in place, allow the proximal end of the guidewire to be extended and retracted to adjust the size of the loop, and lock the proximal end of the guidewire in place to fix the size of the loop;
• and
• wherein the ablation/recording device assess movement and position of the ablation/recording element.

A device for ablating selected tissue comprising:

• a. an ablation/recording element having a shaft and adapted to create a continuous lesion and permit recording;
• b. an anchoring J shaped guidewire with a soft distal end and stiff body adapted to be inserted into an anatomical location and allow the ablation element to be tracked over the guidewire;
• and
• c. a J-shaped multi-electrode lasso catheter adapted to be inserted via the shaft of the ablation/recording element.