Catheter with soft distal tip for mapping and ablating tubular region
AssigneeBiosense Webster (Israel) Ltd.
InventorTom Allen Ditter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A catheter includes an elongated body having a longitudinal axis, a distal assembly distal the elongated body, the distal assembly having a tapered helical form comprising a larger, electrode-carrying proximal loop and a smaller, softer distal loop, and a shape-memory support member extending through at least the proximal loop. For example, the helical loop subtends at least about 720 radial degrees, with the proximal loop subtending about 360 radial degrees, and the distal loop subtending about 360 radial degrees. The softer distal loop with a straight distal end atraumatically guides the distal assembly into a tubular region so that the larger proximal loop can sit on the ostium of the tubular region with improved electrode and tissue contact.
Claims19
A catheter comprising:
- an elongated body having a longitudinal axis;
- a distal assembly distal the elongated body, the distal assembly having a helical form comprising a proximal loop and a distal loop, and a shape-memory support member extending through at least the proximal loop, the proximal loop and the distal loop being oriented obliquely at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the elongated body;
- at least one irrigated ablation ring electrode mounted on the proximal loop;
- a control handle proximal the elongated body;
- and
- a contraction wire having a proximal end in the control handle and a distal end anchored in the proximal loop, the control handle including a first control member configured to actuate the contraction wire to contract the proximal loop,
- wherein the proximal loop has a first flexibility and the distal loop has a second flexibility, and the second flexibility is greater than the first flexibility.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.