CN114711956A

CN114711956A - Expandable electrode

Info

Publication number: CN114711956A
Application number: CN202210400836.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王昌金; 王小航; 王美玲
Original assignee: Chongqing Qianen Medical Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Chongqing Qianen Medical Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-04-18
Filing date: 2022-04-18
Publication date: 2022-07-08

Abstract

The present invention relates to an expandable electrode having a configuration of expandable regions, fluid passageways, and fluid apertures. The expandable region may be made of a conductive material having an expansion property and a conductive property, such as conductive rubber, or may be made of an expandable material having a conductive layer and/or conductive wires attached thereto. During insertion or removal of the electrode to or from the ablation site, fluid within the expandable region is expelled, causing the expandable region to contract for smooth insertion or removal of the electrode. After the electrode is inserted to the designated location of the ablation site, a fluid is injected into the expandable region causing the expandable region to expand such that the expandable region intimately contacts the ablation site. The expandable electrode can effectively reduce the relative displacement between the electrode and an ablation part, reduce the influence on other parts, reduce the contact resistance between the electrode and the ablation part, improve the ablation efficiency and reduce the thermal damage; and meanwhile, the uniformity of the ablation field intensity can be improved.

Description

Expandable electrode

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of electrodes, in particular to an expandable electrode.

Background

Pulse ablation is the purpose of applying pulse energy to an ablation site through an electrode so as to realize complete or partial ablation of the ablation site, and the pulse ablation method is increasingly valued by people as the invention of the pulse ablation method. In pulse ablation, electrodes are the key elements for delivering energy to the ablation site.

In the ablation process of the traditional electrode, the traditional electrode is easy to deviate from a target ablation part due to the action of jitter, electric field force and magnetic field force of the ablation part, so that the ablation effect is reduced on one hand, and the side effect on other parts is increased on the other hand.

After the expandable electrode is placed inside an ablation part, fluid flows into the expandable region through the fluid pipeline, so that the expandable region is expanded, and the effect of clinging to the ablation part is achieved; after ablation is complete, fluid is allowed to flow out of the expandable region, thereby causing the expandable region to contract and allowing the electrode to be smoothly removed from the ablation site.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to creatively provide an expandable electrode aiming at the defects of the existing electrode, and is used for solving the problems that the electrode is easy to fall off and the electrode is not tightly contacted with a tumor part in the ablation process.

The technical scheme of the invention is that a fluid channel for transmitting fluid is added in the middle of an electrode, the fluid channel extends to an expandable region of the electrode, a fluid hole is arranged on an electrode conducting part in the expandable region for communicating the fluid channel with the expandable region and a space formed by the electrode conducting part, and the fluid in the fluid channel of the electrode can flow into the space formed by the expandable region and the electrode conducting part through the fluid hole, so that the expandable region is expanded; or fluid in the space defined by the expandable region and the conductive portion of the electrode may flow out of the fluid passageway through the fluid aperture, causing the expandable region to contract.

The expandable region is comprised of one or more of a conductive rubber, an expandable material coated with a conductive film or attached with conductive filaments, which can expand and conduct electricity.

An alternative inflatable region is comprised of an electrically conductive rubber having an electrical conductivity sufficient to enable smooth energy transfer to the ablation site; and its expansion ratio also needs to meet the requirement of expanding the expandable region to the desired volume.

An alternative inflatable region is made of an inflatable material coated on its outside with a conductive film or attached with conductive threads; a preferred conductive film or wire is preferably made of gold, silver or other materials with good ductility and conductivity; the expandable material, the conductive film and the conductive wire all need to satisfy the requirement that the expansion rate is larger than the maximum expansion rate for expanding the expandable area to the required volume; and the conductive film and/or conductive filaments need to be well coated and/or adhered to the expandable material and should not peel or fall off during expansion or contraction of the expandable region.

The expandable region and the conductive portion of the electrode may be secured by crimping and/or welding and/or bonding.

A relatively sharp head is provided at the front of the electrode for penetrating into the interior of the ablation site to achieve the purpose of inserting the expandable region of the electrode into the intended ablation site. Generally, because the mechanical strength of the conductive rubber or expandable material is generally low, the expandable region is wrapped around a directly slightly smaller conductive portion of the electrode, thereby increasing its mechanical strength.

The electrode conducting part is covered with an electrode insulating layer, the length of the electrode insulating layer can be adjusted according to the size of an ablation part, the requirement of the electrode insulating layer is that the compressive strength is greater than the required maximum compressive strength, and the electrode insulating layer has good biocompatibility.

The tail of the electrode is provided with a fluid pipeline for transmitting fluid and a lead for transmitting energy. The fluid conduit for transporting fluid is connected to the electrode conductive portion and transports fluid to the expandable region through the fluid passage in the electrode conductive portion, the fluid conduit being required to meet the requirement of not transmitting significant deformation within the designed pressure range. The lead is connected with the electrode conductive part through the conductive connecting piece, and the outside of the lead is covered with a lead insulating layer, and the compressive strength of the lead insulating layer is greater than the maximum compressive strength required by the electrode.

Further, the fluid injected into the expandable region of the electrode may be an incompressible fluid such as a physiological saline solution, a conductive liquid, or a developer, or may be a compressible fluid such as a gas.

Before the electrode is inserted into the ablation part, firstly sucking out the fluid in the expandable area to enable the expandable area to be in a contracted state, then inserting the electrode into the ablation part, and after the specified position of the ablation part is reached, injecting the fluid into the expandable area to enable the expandable area to be expanded to the specified size.

After the ablation is finished, the fluid in the expandable region is discharged, so that the expandable region is in a contracted state, and the electrode is smoothly taken out of the ablation part.

After the scheme of the invention is adopted, the invention has the following advantages:

(1) the electrode has the advantages that the electrode is prevented from separating from the ablation part due to muscle contraction or ablation part displacement, and side effects on other parts are reduced;

(2) the contact resistance of the connecting part is reduced, and the energy transmission efficiency is improved, so that the ablation effect is better;

(3) the contact resistance of the connecting part is reduced, so that the heating condition at the connecting part is smaller, and the possibility of thermal damage in the ablation process is reduced;

(4) because the expandable region of the electrode expands, the contact area between the electrode and the ablation part is increased, the electric field intensity around the electrode is reduced, the electric field distribution of the whole ablation part is more uniform, and a better ablation effect is achieved.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present application will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an overall view of the present electrode in an expanded state.

Fig. 2 is an overall cross-sectional view of the present electrode in an expanded state.

Fig. 3 is a partial view of the present electrode in an expanded state.

Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the present electrode in an expanded state.

FIG. 5 is a partial view of the present electrode in an expanded state using conductive filaments attached to the expandable region.

Fig. 6 is an overall view of the present electrode in an unexpanded state.

Fig. 7 is an overall cross-sectional view of the present electrode in an unexpanded state.

Fig. 8 is a partial view of the present electrode in an unexpanded state.

Fig. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of the present electrode in an unexpanded state.

FIG. 10 is a partial view of the present electrode in an unexpanded state using conductive filaments attached to the expandable region.

Fig. 11 is a partial view of the handle portion of the present electrode.

Fig. 12 is a partial cross-sectional view of the handle portion of the present electrode.

Description of reference numerals: 100-electrode conducting part; 110-a fluid aperture; 200-an expandable region; 210-conductive filaments attached to the expandable region; 300-electrode insulation layer; 400-a fluid channel; 500-a handle; 600-a conductive connection; 700-a fluid conduit; 800-a wire insulation layer; 900-conducting wire.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "upper surface", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and thus, are not to be construed as limiting the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implying any number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature.

In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means a plurality, e.g., two, three, four, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "connected" and the like are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning fixedly attached, detachably attached, or integrally formed; can be mechanically connected, electrically connected or can communicate with each other; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

The technical solution of the present invention will be described in detail below with specific examples. These several specific embodiments may be combined with each other below, and details of the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments.

The first embodiment is as follows:

fig. 1 is a general view of the electrode in an expanded state, fig. 2 is a general sectional view of the electrode in an expanded state, fig. 3 is a partial view of the electrode in an expanded state, fig. 4 is a partial sectional view of the electrode in an expanded state, and fig. 12 is a partial sectional view of a grip region of the electrode. As can be seen from these figures, the present electrode is comprised of an electrode conductive portion, an inflatable region, a fluid aperture, an electrode insulation layer, a fluid channel, a handle, a conductive connection, a fluid conduit, a lead insulation layer, and a lead.

The expandable region and the electrode conducting part are fixed together by means of crimping and/or welding and/or bonding, a fluid channel is arranged in the electrode conducting part, one or more fluid holes are formed in the expandable region section of the electrode conducting part, and a space is formed between the electrode conducting part and the expandable region, and fluid can flow into the space so that the expandable region is expanded; or to expel the flowable fluid from the zone, thereby causing the inflatable region to deflate. The tail part of the conductive part of the electrode is provided with a handle, the conductive part of the electrode is connected with a lead through a conductive connecting piece inside the handle, and a fluid channel of the conductive part of the electrode is connected with a fluid pipeline. The end of the electrode conducting part close to the handle is covered with an electrode insulating layer with a specified length, and the electrode insulating layer is used for preventing the energy of the electrode from being transmitted to the area outside the ablation part.

In one embodiment, the fluid within the expandable region is expelled prior to insertion of the electrode into the ablation site, thereby causing the expandable region to contract against the conductive portion of the electrode, and the electrode needle is then inserted by the operator into the ablation site at the desired location.

After the electrode is inserted into the designated location of the ablation site, a metered amount of fluid is passed through the fluid conduit to the expandable region to expand the expandable region to the designated size and check if the electrode is securely fixed in the ablation site, and if so, energy may be applied to the electrode to ablate.

One optional fluid is physiological saline or developer; compressible fluids, such as sterile air, may also be selected.

After the ablation is completed, the fluid in the space formed by the expandable region and the conductive part is discharged through the fluid pipeline, so that the expandable region is shrunk, and the electrode can be smoothly taken out of the ablation site.

Example two:

fig. 5 and 10 are embodiments in which conductive wires are attached outside the expandable region, and in which the conductive wires are made of gold or silver, which is superior in conductivity and ductility, so that they can be expanded or contracted following the expandable region. Yet another alternative embodiment is to coat the exterior of the inflatable region with an electrically conductive metal film, which may be formed by spraying a conductive paint with good biocompatibility onto the surface of the inflatable region.

As can be seen from the above embodiments, an expandable electrode can increase the firmness of the connection between the electrode and the ablation site, and has the advantages of reducing or avoiding the electrode from separating from the ablation site due to muscle contraction or ablation site displacement, and reducing side effects on other sites; meanwhile, the contact resistance of the connecting part can be reduced, and the energy transmission efficiency is improved, so that the ablation effect is better; and because the contact resistance of the connecting part is reduced, the heating condition of the connecting part is smaller, and the possibility of thermal damage in the ablation process is reduced; and finally, because the expandable region of the electrode expands, the contact area between the electrode and the ablation part is increased, the electric field intensity around the electrode is reduced, the electric field distribution of the whole ablation part is more uniform, and a better ablation effect is achieved.

The above description is only a limited number of embodiments of the invention, and it should be noted that several modifications can be made by a person skilled in the art without departing from the inventive concept, and these modifications should also be considered as within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An expandable electrode, comprising: a conductive expandable region at the electrode front end sized by a fluid; a fluid channel and a fluid aperture in the electrode conductive portion; a handle is arranged at the tail end of the electrode conductive part; an electrode insulating layer covers the electrode conducting part close to the handle; in the handle, the lead wire is connected to the conductive portion of the electrode through a conductive connector, and the fluid passage is connected to the fluid conduit.

2. The expandable region of claim 1, wherein: the expandable region may be made of a conductive material having an expansion property and a conductive property, such as conductive rubber, or may be made of an expandable material having a conductive layer and/or conductive wires attached thereto.

3. The expandable region of claim 1, wherein: the electrode conductive part and the electrode conductive part form a closed space through one or more methods of crimping and/or bonding and/or welding, and the closed space can flow in or out of fluid through the fluid hole.

4. The conductive layer or the conductive yarn according to claim 2, wherein: the conductive layer or the conductive wire can expand and contract along with the expandable area, and has good conductivity, and is preferably made of gold, silver and other materials with good ductility and conductivity.

5. The expandable region of claim 1, wherein: the expandable region expands after fluid flows into a space formed by the expandable region and the electrode conducting part; the expandable region is either deflated after the fluid in the space defined by the expandable region and the conductive portion of the electrode is removed.

6. The fluid of claim 1, wherein: the fluid may be either an incompressible fluid or a compressible fluid.

7. The expandable region of claim 1, wherein: the expansion coefficient of the expandable region needs to meet the requirement that the electrode is tightly attached to the ablation part, and meanwhile, the extrusion damage to the ablation part cannot be caused.

8. The electrode insulation layer according to claim 1, wherein: the electrode insulation layer can bear the maximum voltage during ablation and has good biocompatibility.