Biosense Webster, Inc.

Cordis Webster, Inc.

Matthew Frederic Duncan

Timothy Ray Bumbalough

David Blanchard Opie

A bi-directional steerable catheter comprising an elongated, tubular catheter body having at least one lumen, a tip section comprising flexible tubing having at least two lumens and fixedly attached to the distal end of the catheter body, and a control handle mounted to the proximal end of the catheter body. The control handle comprises a generally hollow handle housing, a generally tubular core extending longitudinally within the housing, and a generally circular spur gear rotatably mounted within the handle housing. First and second pistons are slidably mounted on the diametrically opposed sides of the spur gear and have puller wires attached to their distal ends. A longitudinally movable thumb control is fixedly attached to the first piston and accessible from outside the handle housing.

Single gear drive bidirectional control handle for steerable catheter

A multi-directional steerable catheter comprises a catheter body, a tip section attached to the distal end of the catheter body, and a control handle mounted at its distal end to the proximal end of the catheter body. The control handle comprises a housing having a piston chamber extending therethrough and a piston assembly having proximal and distal portions slidably mounted in the piston chamber and longitudinally movable between proximal and distal positions. The proximal portion of the piston assembly comprises a distal section comprising a plurality of notches at its proximal end, a proximal section comprising a plurality of longitudinal grooves about its entire circumference separated by dividing walls having angled distal ends, and a circumferential recess between the proximal section and distal section. The piston assembly further comprises a ring rotatably mounted on the piston assembly comprising a plurality of projections that extend radially inwardly into the circumferential recess and that are capable of being received by the longitudinal grooves. The number of projections is less than the number of longitudinal grooves. The ring further comprises a plurality of teeth at its distal end capable of being received by the notches. First and second puller wire anchors are slidably disposed within a corresponding longitudinal groove. First and second puller wires extend from the control handle, through a lumen in the catheter body and into a lumen in the tip section. The proximal end of each puller wire is fixedly attached to a separate puller wire anchor in the control handle. The distal ends of the puller wires are anchored at different locations in the tip section to form first curve and second curves in response to proximal movement of the first and second puller wires, respectively, relative to the catheter body.

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San Clemente, CA, United States of America

Matthew Frederic Duncan