System and method for gauging the amount of electrode-tissue contact using pulsed radio frequency energy
US6264653A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 24, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jul 24, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 24, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA61B2018/00875
- WIPO fieldMedical technology
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The system and methods of the invention gauge the amount or quality of the contact between body tissue and one or more electrodes supported on a catheter. In further aspects, the invention concerns methods for controlling power delivery to particular electrodes on a catheter in response to tissue contact data derived from that electrode or other electrodes during the ablation procedure. The invention monitors and processes information concerning the number of pulses of pulsed radio-frequency energy that are delivered during an ablation procedure. The amount or quality of tissue contact is gauged by comparing the number of pulses delivered to a particular electrode during the interval to either the number of pulses delivered to at least one other electrode of the plural electrodes or data derived during the ablation procedure. The system and method can provide a display of the gauge of tissue contact among the various electrodes and also can automatically control distribution of pulsed RF energy in response to the gauge of tissue contact.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.