Electroporation system and method of energizing a catheter
AssigneeSt. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, Inc.
InventorEric Olson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides electroporation systems and methods of energizing a catheter for delivering electroporation. A catheter for delivering electroporation includes a distal section and an electrode assembly. The distal section is configured to be positioned in a vein within a body. The vein defines a central axis. The electrode assembly is coupled to the distal section and includes a structure and a plurality of electrodes distributed thereabout. The structure is configured to at least partially contact the vein. Each of the electrodes is configured to be selectively energized to form a circumferential ring of energized electrodes that is concentric with the central axis of the vein.
Claims15
A catheter comprising:
- a distal section configured to be positioned within a body;
- and
- an electrode assembly coupled to the distal section, the electrode assembly comprising:
- a plurality of electrodes, each electrode of the plurality of electrodes configured to be selectively energized, wherein a subset of the plurality of electrodes that forms a circumferential ring is configured to be selected by a computing system coupled to the catheter by automatically determining which of the plurality of electrodes form a closed path, wherein the computing system is configured to automatically determine which of the plurality of electrodes form a closed path by:
- approximating the catheter as a geometric shape;
- identifying a plane oriented perpendicular to a normal vector;
- computing an intersection between the geometric shape and the identified plane;
- and
- selecting electrodes of the plurality of electrodes based on the computed intersection.
A system comprising:
- a catheter comprising an electrode assembly configured to be positioned in a body, the electrode assembly comprising:
- a plurality of electrodes, each electrode of the plurality of electrodes configured to be individually energized;
- an energy source coupled to the catheter and configured to selectively energize a subset of electrodes of the plurality of electrodes;
- and
- a computing system coupled to the catheter and the energy source, the computing system configured to:
- detect respective positions of the plurality of electrodes, and
- select the subset of electrodes to form a circumferential ring of energized electrodes, the computing system configured to select the subset of electrodes by automatically determining which of the plurality of electrodes form a closed path, wherein the computing system is configured to automatically determine which of the plurality of electrodes form a circular or ellipsoid closed path by:
- approximating the catheter as a geometric shape;
- identifying a plane oriented perpendicular to a normal vector;
- computing an intersection between the geometric shape and the identified plane;
- and
- selecting, using an iterative search, electrodes of the plurality of electrodes based on the computed intersection.
A method of energizing a catheter, the method comprising:
- positioning a distal section of the catheter within a body, the distal section comprising a plurality of electrodes;
- determining respective locations of the plurality of electrodes;
- selecting, using a computing device, a subset of electrodes from among the plurality of electrodes by automatically detecting which of the plurality of electrodes form a closed path, wherein the computing device is configured to automatically detect which of the plurality of electrodes form a closed path by:
- approximating the catheter as a geometric shape;
- identifying a plane oriented perpendicular to a normal vector;
- computing an intersection between the geometric shape and the identified plane;
- and
- selecting, using an iterative search, electrodes of the plurality of electrodes based on the computed intersection;
- and
- energizing the subset of electrodes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.