Temperature sensing catheter
AssigneeAccumed Systems, Inc.
InventorsThomas F. Haddock, William W. O'Neill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thermal sensing catheter finds particular utility in detecting and isolating unstable arterial plaque. Miniaturized temperature sensors, preferably in the form of microthermistors, are embedded into expandable presentation elements disposed at the distal end of a catheter. The sensors may then be deployed to measure the surface temperature of the inner wall of coronary arteries or other vessels at multiple sites to identify sites of elevated temperature indicative of unstable plaque. The presentation elements may assume a “hand” type design or an alternate basket-type structure. A plurality of thermal sensors are embedded into the sides of polymeric or metallic sensing elements which expand out from the centerline of a catheter toward the inner vessel walls.
Claims14
A system for sensing the temperature of the wall of a vessel or an arterial wall, comprising:
- an elongated catheter having a distal end and a proximal end;
- a sliding filament that protrudes from both ends of the catheter, the protruding filament at the proximal end of the catheter acting as a manually operated expansion control;
- a temperature sensing tip including a plurality of presentation elements in the form of cantilevered fingers at the distal end of the catheter which expand outwardly by pulling on the manually operated expansion control, each element having a temperature sensor supported thereon which is adapted to be placed in contact or immediately proximate to the vessel wall during the expansion;
- and
- a data unit operative to receive signals from the temperature sensors and display information indicative of vessel wall temperature as sensed by the sensors.
A system for sensing the temperature of a vessel wall or an arterial wall, system comprising:
- an elongated catheter having a distal end and a proximal end;
- a sliding filament that protrudes from both ends of the catheter, the protruding filament at the proximal end of the catheter acting as a manually operated expansion control;
- a temperature sensing tip including one or more presentation elements, each element having a temperature sensor supported thereon;
- each presentation element having a proximal end coupled to the distal end of the catheter and a distal end coupled to the distally protruding end of the filament such that pulling on the manually operated expansion control causes each element to move from a retracted position to an expanded position enabling the sensor to be placed in contact or immediately proximate to the vessel wall, and pushing on the manually operated expansion control causes each presentation element to return to the retracted position from the expanded position;
- and
- a data unit operative to receive electrical signals from the temperature sensors and display information indicative of the physiologic temperature of the vessel wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.