Low power tissue ablation system
AssigneeMedtronic Ablation Frontiers LLC
InventorsRandell L. Werneth, Christopher G. Kunis, J. Christopher Flaherty, Marshall L. Sherman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Devices, systems and methods are disclosed for the ablation of tissue. Embodiments include an ablation catheter that has an array of ablation elements attached to a deployable carrier assembly. The carrier assembly can be constrained within the lumen of a catheter, and deployed to take on an expanded condition. The carrier assembly includes multiple electrodes that are configured to ablate tissue at low power. Additional embodiments include a system that includes an interface unit for delivering one or more forms of energy to the ablation catheter.
Claims28
An ablation catheter, comprising:
- an elongate tube defining a lumen and having a distal end adapted for insertion into a patient;
- at least one resilient arm having a constrained configuration inside the lumen and an expanded configuration outside the lumen;
- at least one electrode disposed on the at least one resilient arm, the electrode comprising a tissue contact portion adapted to deliver energy to tissue and a circulating blood contact portion;
- and
- at least two projecting members extending from the circulating blood contact portion to provide rapid and efficient cooling of the electrode.
An ablation catheter, comprising:
- an elongate-tube defining a lumen and having a distal end adapted for insertion into a patient;
- at least one resilient arm having a constrained configuration inside the lumen and an expanded configuration outside the lumen;
- and
- at least one electrode disposed on the at least one resilient arm, the at least one electrode having:
- an electrical tissue contact portion adapted to deliver energy to tissue,
- a thermal dissipation portion electrically isolated and positioned away from the electrical portion and adapted to dissipate heat from the electrical portion into circulating blood, and
- a fin projecting from the thermal dissipation portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.