Apparatus and method for locating electrically active sites with an animal
AssigneeSiemens Elema AB
InventorsJohan Ubby, Gösta Sjöholm
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Abstract
An apparatus for locating an electrically active site within an organ or other internal body structure has a number of electrical activity sensors positionable proximate a wall of the organ or internal body structure and relatively locatable. Each sensor produces an output indicative of the arrival of an electrical signal from the active site and a signal processing unit to utilize the series of outputs to determine, by triangulation, the location of the active site.
Claims9
An apparatus for locating an electrically active site within an internal body structure comprising:
- a plurality of electrical activity sensors respectively adapted for intracorporeal positioning proximate an internal body structure;
- each sensor emitting an output signal indicative of an arrival of an electrical signal from an active intracorporeal body site;
- and
- a processor which receives the respective output signals from said electrical activity sensors, as received signals, and which processes said received signals to determine, by triangulation, a location of said active site.
An ablation system comprising:
- a plurality of electrical activity sensors respectively adapted for intracorporeal positioning proximate an internal body structure;
- each sensor emitting an output signal indicative of an arrival of an electrical signal from an active intracorporeal body site;
- a processor which receives the respective output signals from said electrical activity sensors, as received signals, and which processes said received signals to determine, by triangulation, a location of said active site;
- and
- an ablation catheter directable to said active site dependent on an output signal from said processor corresponding to the location of the active site obtained by triangulation.
A method of locating an electrically active site within an internal body structure, comprising the steps of:
- intracorporeally placing a plurality of electrical activity sensors proximate an internal body structure, each of said electrical activity sensors emitting an output signal indicative of an arrival of an electrical signal from an active intracorporeal site;
- monitoring each of said electrical activity sensors for emission of said output signal;
- processing the respective output signals from said electrical activity sensors to identify respective transit times of said electrical signal from said active intracorporeal site to each of said electrical activity sensors;
- and
- identifying relative locations of each of said electrical activity sensors and determining by triangulation and said transit times a location of said active intracorporeal site relative to said electrical activity sensors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.