St. Jude Medical, Inc.

St Jude Medical, Atrial Fibrillation Division, Inc

St. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, Inc.

Zhenyi Ma

John William Sliwa

Stephen A Morse

Gleb V Klimovitch

Timothy Edward Ciciarelli

Jennifer Teng

Frank Callaghan

Peter Goetz

Troy Terrance Tegg

John Anderson Hauck

Jeremy David Dando

Don Curtis Deno

Alon Izmirli

Tho Hoang Nguyen

Fermin Armando Lupotti

John P Goetz

Cem Shaquer

An ablation catheter comprises an elongated catheter body; at least one ablation element disposed in a distal portion which is adjacent the distal end of the catheter body; an illumination optical element disposed in the distal portion, the illumination optical element being light-transmissive to emit light from the illumination optical element to the targeted tissue region; and a collection optical element disposed in the distal portion, the collection optical element being light-transmissive to collect one or more of returned, backscattered or newly excited light from the targeted tissue region. The illumination or excitation optical element and the collection optical element are axially spaced from one another and axially optically isolated from one another within the distal portion to substantially prevent light from traveling between the illumination optical element and the collection optical element along a path within the distal portion.

Optical feedback RF ablator and ablator tip

An ablation catheter comprises: an elongated catheter body extending longitudinally between a proximal end and a distal end along a longitudinal axis; a distal member disposed adjacent the distal end, the distal member including an ablation element to ablate a biological member; one or more acoustic transducers disposed in the distal member and each configured to direct an acoustic signal toward a respective target ablation region and receive reflection echoes therefrom; and an acoustic redirection member disposed in the distal member to at least partially redirect the acoustic signal from at least one of the acoustic transducers toward a tissue target. The distal member includes a most-distal portion, a proximal portion, and a deflectable portion between the most-distal portion and proximal portion to permit deflection between the most-distal portion and proximal portion of the distal member. The transducers and redirection member are mounted on opposite sides of the deflectable portion.

Ultrasonic lesion feedback, antipop monitoring, and force detection

Medical devices for diagnosis or treatment of tissue in a body. Representative devices include an elongate shaft having a proximal portion and a distal portion configured for movement relative to the proximal portion. A flexible member having a predetermined stiffness is disposed between the proximal and distal portions. One or more coils and an electrically passive element are disposed within the shaft with either the coils or element configured for movement with the distal portion. The element comprises a material effecting an electrical characteristic of the coils. Movement of the distal portion in response to its contact with the tissue and relative movement of the coils and element causes a change in the electrical characteristic in at least one of the coils indicative of at least a contact force magnitude between the distal portion and the tissue. Several embodiments allow determination of both force magnitude and force vector direction.

Medical device with contact force sensing tip

Electrode assemblies include segmented electrodes disposed on a catheter. The segmented electrodes can be constructed at the tip of the catheter. Tip electrodes can be constructed from an electrically insulative substrate comprising an inner lumen, an external tip surface, and a plurality of channels extending from the inner lumen to the external tip surface, a plurality of segmented electrodes, and a plurality of spot electrodes. Each of the plurality of segmented electrodes and each of the plurality of spot electrodes can be laterally separated from each other by an electrically non-conductive substrate portion and each of the spot electrodes and each of the segmented electrodes can be electrically coupled to at least one wire or conductor trace.

Multi-electrode ablator tip having dual-mode, omni-directional feedback capabilities

A force-sensing tip assembly for a catheter comprises a tip shell, an acoustic transducer, a first target, and a first spring. The tip shell is for joining to the catheter. The acoustic transducer is disposed within the tip shell and is capable of generating an acoustic ping. The first target is spaced from the acoustic transducer within the tip shell. The first spring is in the tip shell and configured to allow a relative position between the acoustic transducer and the first target to change over a range. The first target is shaped and positioned to reflect at least a portion of the acoustic ping back to the acoustic transducer as a first echo over at least a portion of the range.

Force-sensing ablation catheter

A tip for a medical device includes a hollow body having a window, a sensor positioned within the hollow body and oriented such that its active surface is pointed towards the window, and a membrane positioned within a beam path of the sensor. The membrane passes energy without preventing an outer surface of the hollow body of the tip from coming in contact with tissue, thus allowing the hollow body to deliver therapy to an adjacent tissue and/or diagnose adjacent tissue. The membrane can cover the window or the sensor. The membrane is desirably permeable to an irrigant, such that a suitable level of irrigant outflow from the window is maintained, and thin enough that it minimizes attenuation of energy passing to and/or from the sensor.

Sensor-bearing tip and medical device including the same

Systems and methods for aligning directionally operable medical devices with and upon target tissue. Systems and methods for aligning medical devices such as directional ablation catheters to and upon target tissue by monitoring irrigant backpressure. The current disclosure provides solutions to the problem of rotationally or angularly aligning a directional medical device toward tissue.

Pressure sensing of irrigant backpressure for aligning directional medical devices with target tissue

An ablation catheter includes a tubular catheter body having a lumen, a tip portion, a liquid inlet, at least one liquid outlet, a liquid flow path defined between the liquid inlet and the liquid outlet, and an ablation element mounted on the tip portion of the catheter body. A rotationally-scanning ultrasound assembly is disposed within the lumen of the catheter body adjacent the tip portion. The ultrasound assembly includes an ultrasound transducer having an active face, an acoustic mirror acoustically coupled to the active face of the ultrasound transducer, and an impeller positioned in the liquid flow path and operably coupled to at least one of the ultrasound transducer and the acoustic mirror to impart rotational motion thereto when a liquid flows through the impeller.

Methods and apparatus for utilizing impeller-based rotationally-scanning catheters

A medical device comprising a cell including an ablation element and a carrier configured to receive at least a portion of said ablation element is disclosed. The medical device further comprises a tube enclosing the cell. At least a portion of the tube includes a membrane and the tube includes at least one hole proximate the ablation element for facilitating fluid flow. The medical device further comprises a fluid inlet for providing fluid to the interior of the tube. A method of using the medical device is also disclosed.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Zhenyi Ma