Laser catheter with use of determined material type in vascular system in ablation of material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10646275-B2
Application number	US-201414586529-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2014
Priority date	Dec 30, 2014
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for ablating material in a region within a vascular system of a patient are provided. A determination of at least one of a type of material in the region and an indication of a distance to the material in the region is made based on at least one property of the region determined from light reflected from the region. Light from a light source is transmitted in at least one of a plurality of optical fibers based on the determination, and at least some of the transmitted light is received at a first emitter disposed along a length of a laser catheter proximate a distal end thereof. The first emitter radially transmits the at least some of the light from the length of the laser catheter so that the light impinges upon and ablates the material through an opening in the length of the laser catheter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for ablating material in a region within a vascular system of a patient, the apparatus comprising:
a laser catheter coupled to a light source, the laser catheter comprising:
a proximal end, a distal end and a length between the proximal end and the distal end;
a first plurality of optical fibers, the first plurality of optical fibers including at least one optical fiber configured to transmit light from the light source and at least one optical fiber configured to transmit light reflected from material in a region within a vascular system of a patient;
a first emitter coupled to the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light from the light source, wherein the first emitter is disposed along the length proximate the distal end, wherein the first emitter is configured to transmit light radially from the length; and
a first optical receiver coupled to the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light reflected from the material in the region within the vascular system of the patient, the reflected light being indicative of diffuse absorbance and transmittance characteristics of the region within the vascular system of the patient, wherein the first optical receiver is disposed along the length proximate the distal end; and

at least one controller comprising a processor executing:
optical property determining logic configured to separate the reflected light into a plurality of channels, determine an intensity value for each plurality of channels and determine the diffuse absorbance and transmittance characteristics of the region within the vascular system of the patient, wherein the optical property determining logic identifies a change in intensity value for each plurality of channels and creates a waveform for each plurality of channels, wherein the waveform is representative of the intensity value over time;
material type determining logic configured to determine a type of a material in the region within the vascular system of the patient and determine whether the material is blood circulating in the vascular system or tissue of the vascular system based on receiving the change in intensity value for each plurality of channels from the optical property determining logic; and
alert logic configured to produce an alert based upon an output from the material determining logic or the output from the optical property determining logic, wherein the alert is indicative of the type of the material in the region within the vascular system of the patient or a distance to the material in the region within the vascular system of the patient.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light from the light source comprises the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light reflected from the material in the region within the vascular system.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one optical fiber of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light from the light source is configured to transmit the light from the light source based on at least one of the determined type of the material in the region within the vascular system and a determined indication of the distance to the material in the region, wherein the at least one of the type of the material and the indication of the distance to the material is determined based on the diffuse absorbance and transmittance characteristics, and wherein the first emitter comprises at least one light-deflecting object configured to deflect light radially from the length so that the deflected light impinges upon the material in the region through an opening in the length proximate the distal end and ablates the material in the region when it is determined that the type of the material is a type of material to be ablated.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second plurality of optical fibers, the second plurality of optical fibers including at least one optical fiber configured to transmit light from the light source and at least one optical fiber configured to transmit light reflected from material in the region within the vascular system of the patient;
a second emitter coupled to the at least one of the second plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit light from the light source, wherein the second emitter is disposed at the distal end and is configured to emit light distally and/or radially therefrom; and
a second optical receiver coupled to the at least one of the second plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit reflected light, wherein the second optical receiver is at the distal end.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light from the light source is movable axially, along a longitudinal axis passing through the proximal end and the distal end along the length, relative to at least another optical fiber of the laser catheter, and wherein the first emitter is also axially movable relative to the at least another optical fiber of the laser catheter so that the first emitter is configured to allow the light transmitted from the light source through the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light from the light source to impinge upon and ablate the material in the region within the vascular system through different positions along an opening in the length proximate the distal end.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first emitter comprises a light-deflecting object having an adjustable orientation so as to allow the light to be transmitted radially from the length in a plurality of different directions.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one anchoring component coupled to the laser catheter, the at least one anchoring component configured to:
move within the vascular system while the laser catheter is moved within the vascular system; and
fix the laser catheter at a particular position in the region within the vascular system while the laser catheter transmits light from the light source to material in a region within the vascular system.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the at least one anchoring component comprises a plurality of inflatable elements configured to fix the laser catheter at the particular position in the region within the vascular system, wherein the laser catheter further includes a second plurality of optical fibers, the second plurality of optical fibers including at least one optical fiber configured to transmit light from the light source, and wherein each optical fiber of the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers and the at least one of the second plurality of optical fibers is configured to transmit light from the light source with at least one intensity that varies with at least one direction in which the optical fiber is oriented.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light reflected from the material in the region within the vascular system provides a different indication of progress of ablation by the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light from the light source, and wherein each of the at least one of the first plurality of optical fibers configured to transmit the light from the light source is configured to adjust an intensity of light transmitted by the optical fiber from the light source based on the different indications of the progress of the ablation.

Assignees

• Univ Minnesota

Inventors

• Kowalewski Timothy M
• Beekman Darrin D
• Stubbs Jack B
• Peterson Gregory K
• Bijadi Sachin
• Erdman Arthur G

Classifications

• A61B2018/00702

  Power or energy · CPC title

• A61B2018/00666

  using a threshold value · CPC title

• A61B2018/00642

  with feedback, i.e. closed loop control · CPC title

• A61B2018/00904

  Automatic detection of target tissue · CPC title

• A61B18/245 Primary

  for removing obstructions in blood vessels or calculi · CPC title