Coiled ablation catheter system
AssigneeThe General Hospital Corporation
InventorDavid Keane
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cardiac ablation catheter includes a coil-like ablating element that is deployable from an elongate, flexible sheath. The ablating element, while in the deployed position, has a shape with at least one revolution oriented in a plane that is orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of the sheath. The catheter system is well-suited to ablate a circumferential region of tissue about a pulmonary vein or the posterior wall of the left atrium proximate the pulmonary vein os. The treated tissue region electrically isolates the atria from the pulmonary vein.
Claims6
A method for ablating a selected region of body tissue, comprising the steps of:
- (a) inserting a catheter into a body, the catheter comprising:
- an elongate, flexible sheath having an internal lumen, an open distal end and a longitudinal axis;
- an ablating element disposed within the sheath and selectively deployable therefrom so as to project from the sheath in a pulmonary vein with a substantially coil-like shape having at least one revolution, wherein the ablating element, in a deployed condition, is oriented in a plane that is substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the sheath;
- and
- at least one exposed, conductive region disposed on at least a portion of the ablating element;
- (b) advancing the ablating element distally out of the sheath to allow the ablating element to form a substantially coil-like shape having at least one revolution;
- (c) contacting the conductive region of the ablating element along a selected circumferential region of body tissue at the pulmonary vein;
- and
- (d) transmitting ablating energy to the ablating element while contacting the selected region of body tissue to form a circumferential lesion blocking arythmia signals originating in the pulmonary vein.
A method for ablating a selected region of body tissue, comprising the steps of:
- (a) inserting a catheter into a body, the catheter comprising:
- an elongate, flexible sheath having an internal lumen, an open distal end and a longitudinal axis;
- an ablating element disposed within the sheath and selectively deployable therefrom so as to project from the distal end of the sheath in a pulmonary vein with a substantially coil-like shape with at least one revolution, wherein the ablating element, in a deployed condition, is oriented in a plane that is substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the sheath;
- and
- at least one exposed, conductive region disposed on at least a portion of the ablating element;
- (b) advancing the ablating element distally out of the sheath to allow the ablating element to form a substantially coil-like shape having at least one revolution;
- (c) contacting the conductive region of the ablating element along a selected portion of body tissue in the region of the pulmonary vein;
- and
- (d) transmitting ablating energy to the ablating element while contacting the selected portion of body tissue to form a continuous lesion effective to block arrhythmia signals originating in the pulmonary vein.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.