Tissue characterization to identify an ablation site
AssigneeBoston Scientific Corporation
InventorDavid K. Swanson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Heart tissue near the surface of the heart is characterized to identify a potential site to ablate to treat reentrant ventricular tachycardia. Signals from the surface of the heart are recorded during an episode of ventricular tachycardia to determine whether a reentrant pathway lies near the surface of the heart. Entrainment pacing is employed to identify a potential ablation site near the slow conduction zone of the reentrant pathway. Heart tissue is ablated by creating a lesion with a large surface area and a shallow depth to destroy the slow conduction zone.
Claims25
A method of characterizing heart tissue, comprising:
- recording signals from a surface of the heart during an episode of ventricular tachycardia;
- and
- determining whether a reentrant pathway lies near the surface of the heart based at least in part on the recorded signals.
A method of ablating heart tissue, comprising:
- recording signals from a surface of the heart during an episode of ventricular tachycardia;
- determining whether a reentrant pathway lies near the surface of the heart based at least in part on the recorded signals;
- assessing whether a portion of tissue of the heart is near a slow conduction zone of the reentrant pathway;
- and
- ablating the heart tissue to create a shallow lesion if the heart tissue is near the slow conduction zone of the reentrant pathway.
A system for characterizing heart tissue to identify an ablation site comprising:
- an electrode;
- a signal generating and recording device electrically coupled with the electrode, the signal generating and recording device configured for receiving signals from a surface of the heart for measuring diastolic and pre-systolic potentials during an episode of ventricular tachycardia when a re-entrant circuit pathway is located near the endocardial tissue of the heart, and further configured for applying a pacing signal to and receiving a post-pacing signal from the heart during an entrainment pacing procedure, the signal generating and recording device comprising a display unit configured for displaying diastolic or pre-systolic potentials during the episode of ventricular tachycardia when a reentrant pathway is located near the endocardial tissue of the heart and displaying a post-pacing signal during the entrainment pacing procedure.
A system for ablating heart tissue comprising:
- a source of ablation energy;
- an ablation catheter which is coupled to the source of ablation energy, includes at least one electrode, and configured to controllably produce a lesion having a large surface area and a shallow depth;
- and
- a signal generating and recording device electrically coupled with the at least one electrode, the signal generating and recording device configured for receiving signals from a surface of the heart and measuring diastolic and pre-systolic potentials during an episode of ventricular tachycardia when a re-entrant circuit pathway is located near the endocardial tissue of the heart, and for applying a pacing signal to and receiving a post-pacing signal from the heart during an entrainment pacing procedure, the signal generating and recording device comprising a display unit configured for displaying diastolic or pre-systolic potentials during the episode of ventricular tachycardia when a reentrant pathway is located near the endocardial tissue of the heart and displaying a post-pacing signal during the entrainment pacing procedure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.