Ablation catheter system and method for deploying same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10342608-B2
Application number	US-201314054755-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2013
Priority date	Oct 18, 2012
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

An ablation therapy system is disclosed comprising an ablation catheter system for treating atrial fibrillation (AF). The ablation catheter system comprises a catheter body including a lumen for receiving a visualization catheter, an ablation element for ablating tissue in a patient's heart having abnormal electrical activity, a support assembly for supporting the ablation element, the support assembly being supported by the catheter assembly. The support assembly includes a lumen to receive the visualization catheter, wherein the support assembly is configured to rotate and/or pivot with respect to the catheter body.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ablation therapy system including an ablation catheter system for treating atrial fibrillation (AF), the ablation catheter system comprising:
(a) a catheter body including a lumen receiving a visualization catheter;
(b) an ablation element configured to ablate tissue at a region in a patient's heart having abnormal electrical activity;
(c) a support assembly supported by the catheter body, the support assembly including a lumen receiving the visualization catheter,
wherein the ablation element is supported on the support assembly for movement therealong so as to enable a user of the ablation therapy system to control the movement and the support assembly is supported for rotational or pivoting movement so as to enable the user to selectively control the rotation or pivoting movement independently with respect to the catheter body and so as to enable the user to selectively position the ablation element along the support assembly and to select the region in the heart that is to be ablated,
wherein the support assembly comprises a support arm for supporting the ablation element, and
wherein the support assembly includes front and rear rings, each ring having a hole for receiving an end of the support arm, the rear ring configured to rotate
with respect to the catheter body, the rear ring including the lumen of the support assembly receiving the visualization catheter,
wherein the visualization catheter having an end that is configured to fit within a recessed portion of the front ring of the support assembly; and

(d) a pivot mechanism configured to cause the support arm to pivot with respect to the catheter body, wherein the pivot mechanism comprises a flexible line extending from the end of the visualization catheter therethrough, whereby tension on the flexible line causes support arm to pivot with respect to the catheter body.

2. The ablation therapy system of claim 1 wherein the support arm is configured to expand outwardly.

3. The ablation therapy system of claim 1 wherein the support arm comprises a wire.

4. The ablation therapy system of claim 1 wherein the ablation element is configured to slide along the support arm.

5. The ablation therapy system of 1 further comprising a guidewire passing through the lumen of the catheter body and the lumen of the rear ring, the guidewire having an end fixed to the front ring, whereby guidewire rotation with respect to the catheter body simultaneously rotates the front ring, rear ring and support arm.

6. The ablation therapy system of 1 further comprising a guidewire passing through the lumen of the catheter body and the lumen of the rear ring, the guidewire having an end fixed to the front ring, whereby guidewire retraction or advancement simultaneously expands or compresses the support arm, respectively.

7. The ablation therapy system of claim 1 further comprising the visualization catheter configured to pass through the lumen of the catheter body and the lumen of the support assembly, respectively.

8. The ablation therapy system of claim 7 wherein the visualization catheter includes an expandable structure configured to expand and stabilize the ablation element against the tissue of the heart.

9. The ablation therapy system of claim 1 further including a control unit for controlling the operation of the ablation catheter system.

10. An ablation therapy system comprising:
(a) an ablation catheter system configured for treating atrial fibrillation (AF), the ablation catheter system comprising:
1) a catheter body having a lumen receiving a visualization catheter;
2) an ablation element configured to ablate tissue in a region in a patient's heart having abnormal electrical activity;
3) a support assembly supported by the catheter body, the support assembly including a second lumen receiving the visualization catheter, wherein the ablation element supported on the support assembly for movement therealong so as to enable a user of the ablation therapy system to control the movement and the support assembly is supported for rotational or pivoting movement independently with respect to the catheter body so as to enable the user to selectively position the ablation element along the support assembly and to select the region in the heart that is to be ablated,
wherein the support assembly comprises a support arm for supporting the ablation element,
wherein the support assembly comprises a support arm and front and rear rings, each ring having a hole for receiving an end of the support arm, the rear ring configured to rotate with respect to the catheter body, the rear ring including the lumen of the support assembly for receiving the visualization catheter, wherein the visualization catheter has an end that is configured to fit within the front ring of the support assembly; and

4) a pivot mechanism configured to enable the support arm to pivot with respect to the catheter body, the pivot mechanism comprising a flexible line extending from the end of the visualization catheter therethrough, whereby tension on the flexible line causes support arm to pivot with respect to the catheter body; and

(b) a control unit operatively associated with the support assembly and controlling rotational or pivoting movement thereof so as to enable the user to selectively control rotational and/or pivoting movement of the support assembly independently with respect to the catheter body so as to enable the user to select the region in the heart that is to be ablated.

11. The ablation therapy system 10 wherein the ablation element is configured to slide along the support arm.

12. The ablation therapy system 10 wherein the control unit is configured to enable a user to coordinate sliding of the ablation element along the support arm.

13. The ablation therapy system of claim 10 wherein the support arm is configured to expand outwardly under the control of the control unit.

14. The ablation therapy system of claim 10 wherein the ablation catheter system further comprising the visualization catheter, a pull wire and tension wire, the pull wire and tension wire attached to opposing sides of the ablation element so as to cause the ablation element to move along the support arm, wherein the pull wire extends within visualization catheter.

15. An ablation catheter system for treating atrial fibrillation (AF), the ablation catheter system comprising:
(a) a catheter body including a lumen receiving a visualization catheter;
(b) an ablation element configured to ablate tissue in a region in a patient's heart having an abnormal electrical activity; and
(c) a support assembly supported by the catheter body, the support assembly including a lumen receiving the visualization catheter,
wherein the ablation element supported on the support assembly for movement therealong so as to enable a user of the ablation therapy system to control the movement and the support assembly is supported for rotational or pivoting movement so as to enable the user to selectively control the rotational or pivoting movement independently with respect to the catheter body and so as to enable the user to selectively position the ablation element along the support assembly and select the region in the heart that is to be ablated,
wherein the support assembly comprises a support arm for supporting the ablation element; and

(d) a pull wire and tension wire attached to opposing sides of the ablation element so as to cause the ablation element to move along the support arm, wherein the pull wire extends within the visualization catheter.

16. The ablation catheter system

Assignees

• Univ Leland Stanford Junior

Inventors

• Wang Paul
• Lin Bryant
• Siljander Matthew

Classifications

• A61B2018/00267

  having a basket shaped structure · CPC title

• A61B2018/00577

  Ablation · CPC title

• A61B2018/00184

  Moving parts · CPC title

• A61B2018/0022

  Balloons · CPC title

• A61B18/1492 Primary

  having a flexible, catheter-like structure, e.g. for heart ablation (A61B18/1477 takes precedence) · CPC title