Tissue contact sensing vector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10575900-B2
Application number	US-201615355745-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2016
Priority date	Nov 20, 2015
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

A catheter system includes a catheter comprising a tip assembly, the tip assembly having a plurality of electrodes and the plurality of electrodes are configured to measure electrical signals. The system also includes a processing unit configured to: receive a first electrical signal sensed by a first electrode of the plurality of electrodes and a second electrical signal sensed by a second electrode of the plurality of electrodes. A first vector is determined based on the first electrical signal that corresponds to the first electrode. A second vector is determined based on the second electrical signal that corresponds to the second electrode. A resultant vector is determined by summing at least the first vector and the second vector, wherein the resultant vector is indicative of the orientation of the tip assembly.

First claim

We claim:

1. A catheter system, comprising:
a catheter comprising a tip assembly, the tip assembly having a plurality of electrodes, the plurality of electrodes configured to measure electrical signals of an anatomical surface; and
a processing unit configured to:
receive a first electrical signal sensed by a first electrode of the plurality of electrodes and a second electrical signal sensed by a second electrode of the plurality of electrodes;
determine a first vector, based on the first electrical signal, corresponding to the first electrode;
determine a second vector, based on the second electrical signal, corresponding to the second electrode; and
determine a resultant vector by summing at least the first vector and the second vector, wherein the resultant vector is indicative of which portion of the tip assembly is contacting the anatomical surface and an orientation of the tip assembly relative to the anatomical surface, wherein the orientation is an angle between a normal vector extending from a distal end of the tip assembly and the anatomical surface producing the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal.

2. The catheter system of claim 1 , the processing unit further configured to cause the first and second electrodes to provide a first and second current into a patient's body, respectively.

3. The catheter system of claim 1 , the first vector comprising a first magnitude and a first direction, and the second vector comprising a second magnitude and a second direction, wherein the first and second directions correspond, respectively, to a first and second position relative to a central terminal.

4. The catheter system of claim 3 , wherein the first and second magnitudes comprise a first and second voltage, respectively.

5. The catheter system of claim 1 , further comprising a display device operatively coupled to the processing unit, wherein the processing unit is configured to cause the display device to present a representation of the orientation of the tip assembly.

6. The catheter system of claim 5 , wherein the representation of the orientation of the tip assembly comprises a graphical depiction of the resultant vector.

7. The catheter system of claim 1 , the tip assembly further comprising an exterior wall configured to deliver radio frequency (RF) energy for an RF ablation procedure, the plurality of electrodes comprising a plurality of mapping electrodes evenly distributed along a circumference of the exterior wall.

8. An ablation catheter system, comprising:
a catheter comprising:
a tip assembly that includes a conductive exterior wall for delivering radio frequency (RF) energy for an RF ablation procedure, and a plurality of mapping electrode openings; and
a plurality of mapping electrodes, positioned in the plurality of mapping electrode openings, the plurality of mapping electrodes configured to measure electrical signals of an anatomical surface; and

a processing unit configured to:
drive a first current through a first mapping electrode of the plurality of mapping electrodes and a second current through a second mapping electrode of the plurality of mapping electrodes;
receive a first electrical signal sensed by the first mapping electrode and a second electrical signal sensed by the second mapping electrode;
determine a first vector, based on the first electrical signal, corresponding to the first mapping electrode;
determine a second vector, based on the second electrical signal, corresponding to the second mapping electrode; and
determine a resultant vector by summing at least the first vector and the second vector, wherein the resultant vector is indicative of which portion of the tip assembly is contacting the anatomical surface and an orientation of the tip assembly relative to the anatomical surface, wherein the orientation is an angle between a normal vector extending from a distal end of the tip assembly and the anatomical surface producing the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal.

9. The ablation catheter system of claim 8 , the first vector comprising a first magnitude and a first direction, and the second vector comprising a second magnitude and a second direction, wherein the first and second directions correspond, respectively, to a first and second position relative to a central terminal.

10. The ablation catheter system of claim 9 , wherein the central terminal comprises a virtual electrode that represents a vector summation based on vectors associated with all of the plurality of mapping electrodes.

11. The ablation catheter system of claim 9 , wherein the first and second magnitudes comprise a first and second voltage, respectively.

12. The ablation catheter system of claim 9 , wherein the first and second magnitudes comprise a first and second impedance, respectively.

13. The ablation catheter system of claim 8 , further comprising a display device operatively coupled to the processing unit, wherein the processing unit is configured to cause the display device to present a representation of the orientation of the tip assembly.

14. The ablation catheter system of claim 13 , wherein the representation of the orientation of the tip assembly comprises a graphical depiction of the resultant vector.

15. A method of determining an orientation of a tip assembly of an ablation catheter relative to an anatomical surface, the tip assembly comprising a conductive exterior wall configured to deliver radio frequency (RF) energy for an RF ablation procedure, and a plurality of mapping electrodes evenly distributed along a circumference of the exterior wall, the method comprising:
driving a first current through a first mapping electrode of the plurality of mapping electrodes;
driving a second current through a second mapping electrode of the plurality of mapping electrodes;
receiving a first electrical signal sensed by the first mapping electrode;
receiving a second electrical signal sensed by the second mapping electrode;
determining a first vector, based on the first electrical signal, corresponding to the first mapping electrode;
determining a second vector, based on the second electrical signal, corresponding to the second mapping electrode;
determining a resultant vector by summing at least the first vector and the second vector, wherein the resultant vector is indicative of which portion of the tip assembly is contacting the anatomical surface and an orientation of the tip assembly relative to the anatomical surface, wherein the orientation is an angle between a normal vector extending from a distal end of the tip assembly and the anatomical surface producing the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal; and
causing a display device to present a representation of the orientation of the tip assembly.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the representation of the orientation of the tip assembly comprises a graphical depiction of the resultant vector.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein determining the first vector and the second vector comprises determining a first magnitude and a first direction, and a second magnitude and a second direction, respectively, wherein the first and second directions correspond, respectively, to a first and second position relative to a central terminal.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first and second magnitudes comprise a first and second voltage, respectively.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the central terminal comprises a virtual electrode that represents a vector summation based on

Assignees

• Boston Scient Scimed Inc

Inventors

• Laughner Jacob I
• Hamann Jason J
• Shome Shibaji
• Shuros Allan C
• Byron Mary M
• Hultz Paul
• Thakur Pramodsingh H

Classifications

• A61B5/0036

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• A61B90/37

  Surgical systems with images on a monitor during operation · CPC title

• A61B2034/107

  Visualisation of planned trajectories or target regions · CPC title

• A61B2018/00351

  Heart · CPC title

• A61B2018/00839

  Bioelectrical parameters, e.g. ECG, EEG · CPC title