Ablation array having independently activated ablation elements
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsWarren Lee, Mirsaid Seyed-Bolorforosh, Douglas Glenn Wildes
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for imaging and providing therapy to one or more regions of interest is presented. The system includes an imaging and therapy catheter configured to image an anatomical region to facilitate assessing need for therapy in one or more regions within the anatomical region and delivering therapy to the one or more regions of interest within the anatomical region. The catheter includes a therapy device having a plurality of independently controllable therapy elements. The independence of the therapy elements is exploited when multiple regions are to receive therapy simultaneously or at a given catheter position within a subject.
Claims38
An ablation device comprising:
- an array of ablation elements, wherein the ablation elements are disposed in one or more rings;
- a controller connected to the ablation elements and configured to selectively activate the ablation elements for a given ablation procedure and to steer an ablation beam generated by the array of ablation elements;
- wherein the controller is further configured to determine if multiple ablation points are to be ablated and, if so, selectively activate the ablation elements such that the array of ablation elements creates the ablation beam characterized by at least two principal lobes, each lobe used to simultaneously ablate a respective ablation point.
An integrated therapy and imaging catheter comprising:
- an ultrasound transducer;
- an ablation array having a plurality of ablation elements;
- a rotational aid connected to the ablation array of ablation elements and configured to rotate the array of ablation elements;
- wherein the plurality of ablation elements are selectively activated for simultaneous multi-lesion ablation;
- wherein the ablation array is configured to steer an ablation beam emitting therefrom;
- and
- wherein the ablation beam comprises a plurality of principal lobes, each of the plurality of principal lobes simultaneously steered towards a different ablation point.
An imaging and ablation system comprising:
- a display configured to display images;
- an imaging device configured to acquire images;
- an ablation device having a plurality of independently controllable ablation elements, wherein the ablation elements are disposed in one or more rings around the imaging device and create an ablation beam characterized by at least two principal lobes;
- and
- a controller operably connected to the imaging device to control image acquisition and operably connected to the ablation device to selectively activate the plurality of independently controllable ablation elements for a given ablation procedure, wherein the controller is configured to automatically assess the efficacy and location of an ablation, and to automatically repeat the ablation if a previous ablation attempt is deemed unsuccessful.
An ablation device comprising:
- a plurality of ablation elements;
- a rotational aid connected to the array of ablation elements and configured to rotate the array of ablation elements;
- and
- a controller connected to the ablation elements and configured to:
- define the ablation elements into a first set of ablation elements and a second set of ablation elements for a given ablation procedure, the second set of ablation elements being different from the first set of ablation elements;
- overlay a user-defined therapy pathway and an ablation reticle onto a displayed image to provide a view of the pathway and ablation site prior to an ablation;
- activate the first set of ablation elements to simultaneously emit an ablation beam, the ablation beam having a plurality of principal ablation lobes;
- and
- independently steer each of the plurality of principal ablation lobes to a different location along the user-defined therapy pathway.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.