Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B18/00—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body
  • A61B18/04—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body by heating
  • A61B18/12—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body by heating by passing a current through the tissue to be heated, e.g. high-frequency current
  • A61B18/14—Probes or electrodes therefor
  • A61B18/1492—Probes or electrodes therefor having a flexible, catheter-like structure, e.g. for heart ablation
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
  • A61B5/42—Detecting, measuring or recording for evaluating the gastrointestinal, the endocrine or the exocrine systems
  • A61B5/4222—Evaluating particular parts, e.g. particular organs
  • A61B5/4233—Evaluating particular parts, e.g. particular organs oesophagus
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
  • A61B5/68—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient
  • A61B5/6846—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient specially adapted to be brought in contact with an internal body part, i.e. invasive
  • A61B5/6885—Monitoring or controlling sensor contact pressure
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61M—DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY; DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY; DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR
  • A61M25/00—Catheters; Hollow probes
  • A61M25/01—Introducing, guiding, advancing, emplacing or holding catheters
  • A61M25/0105—Steering means as part of the catheter or advancing means; Markers for positioning
  • A61M25/0127—Magnetic means; Magnetic markers
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B18/00—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body
  • A61B2018/00315—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body for treatment of particular body parts
  • A61B2018/00345—Vascular system
  • A61B2018/00351—Heart
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B18/00—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body
  • A61B2018/00571—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body for achieving a particular surgical effect
  • A61B2018/00577—Ablation
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B18/00—Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body
  • A61B2018/00636—Sensing and controlling the application of energy
  • A61B2018/00642—Sensing and controlling the application of energy with feedback, i.e. closed loop control
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B34/00—Computer-aided surgery; Manipulators or robots specially adapted for use in surgery
  • A61B34/20—Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis
  • A61B2034/2046—Tracking techniques
  • A61B2034/2051—Electromagnetic tracking systems

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an improved medical device or apparatus for ablating cardiac tissues along continuous lines in the heart chambers.
• a further object of the invention relates to a method for positioning and guiding an ablation catheter during ablation procedure. More particularly the device and method of the present invention are intended to perform ablation lines on the posterior wall of the left atrium in order to treat and prevent the occurrences of atrial fibrillation.
• the medical device comprises to that extent an elongated member having a distal end comprising an ablation electrode and a second elongated member or guiding member allowing precise control of the ablation electrode.
• Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal rhythm of the heart caused by abnormal electrical discharges within the two upper chambers of the heart called atria. Atrial fibrillation reduces the ability of the atria to pump blood into the lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles) and usually causes the heart to beat too rapidly and may induce complications that include heart failure and stroke.
• Surgical and invasive catheterisation approaches in contrast are promising and give very good results as they cure the problem by ablating the portion of the heart tissue that causes electrical trouble inducing fibrillation.
• a cardiac mapping is firstly executed in order to locate aberrant electrical pathways within the heart as well as to detect other mechanical aspects of cardiac activity.
• Various methods and devices have been disclosed and are commonly used to establish precise mapping of the heart and will not be further described in the present application. Once this mapping is done, the clinician will refer to this heart mapping, which indicates him the points and lines along, which ablation is to be performed.
• Radiofrequency catheter ablation One commonly used technique for performing ablation is known as radiofrequency catheter ablation.
• This technique uses an ablation electrode mounted at the distal end of a catheter that is introduced by natural passageways in the target heart chamber and then manipulated by a surgeon thanks to a handle at the proximal end of the catheter acting on a steering mechanism. This allows displacement of the distal end of the catheter so as to have the ablation electrode lying at the exact position determined by the heart mapping technique or/and fluoroscopy.
• RF energy is applied to ablate the cardiac tissue.
• Another known problem relates to the determination of the correct level of energy to deliver to the ablation tip so as to precisely control the ablation lesion depth.
• energy applied may be either too low, in that case the lesion is ineffective, or too high which may lead in rare case to oesophageal bums and atrial-oesophageal fistula formation.
• This complication although rare, is extremely devastating and fatal in more that a half of the reported cases.
• the use of a temperature sensor at the tip of the catheter in the vicinity of the ablating electrode does not help to solve this problem as it does not provide an accurate measure of the tissue temperature because the measure is mostly influenced by the heating of the ablation electrode when RF energy is applied.
• the goal of the present invention is to provide a medical device or apparatus and a method that allows the precise control of the positioning and of the movements of the ablation electrode during the intervention and to effectively monitor the adequate physiological parameters to prevent or even eliminate the occurrence of the above-mentioned dreadful complication.
• Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a guiding member intended to guide the ablation catheter.
• Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of figure 1.
• Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of figure 1.
• Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of figure 1 representing and alternate embodiment of the guiding member head.
• Figure 5 is schematic representation of the tip of the ablating member of the medical device.
• Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate embodiment of the distal end of the ablating member.
• Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line D-D of figure 6.
• Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view similar to figure 3 but showing an alternate embodiment of the distal head of the guiding member.
• Figure 9 is a schematic view of the guiding member magnetically coupled to the ablating member.
• Figure 10 is a view similar to the one depicted at figure 9 showing a variant of the distal end of the guiding member.
• Figure 11 is a view similar to figures 9 and 10 in which the guiding member head and the ablating tip are magnetically coupled in reverse position.
• Figure 12 is a view of a further embodiment of the distal tip of the ablating member comprising means for calculating displacement distances.
• Figure 13 is a view of a further embodiment of the distal tip of the ablating member comprising alternate means for calculating displacement distances.
• Figure 14 shows a further embodiment of the distal tip of the ablating member and of the guiding member.
• Figure 15 shows another further embodiment of the distal tip of the ablating member.
• Figure 16 shows another further embodiment of the distal tip of the ablating member.
• Figure 17 is a schematic side view illustrating the displacement of the ablating tip.
• Figure 18 is a schematic top view illustrating the displacement of the ablating tip.
• Figure 19 shows a magnet arrangement intended to be installed in the head of the guiding member.
• Figure 20 illustrate the magnetic field generated by the magnet arrangement of figure 19.
• Figure 21 is a schematic view of a magnet arrangement used in the guiding member of the medical device.
• Figure 22 is an alternate magnet arrangement used in the guiding member.
• the medical device object of the present invention comprises two different elongated members having distal and proximal ends intended to be introduced in the human body by natural passageways thanks to known techniques like catheterisation for example.
• Both distal ends of the two members comprise a magnet or a magnet arrangement and can therefore be magnetically coupled when they are brought in close together.
• each member is intended to be introduced in a different cavity of the human body therefore magnetic coupling between the distal ends of the two members always occurs through the wall of internal organs.
• one of the members can be introduced into one heart chamber and the second or guiding member in the oesophagus of the patient. Other combinations are of course possible, as it will be disclosed later.
• the distal end of one member comprises, in addition to the magnet or magnet arrangement, means for ablating human tissues.
• the distal end of the second member includes a temperature sensor that monitors the temperature of the opposite side of the tissue being ablated when both distal ends are magnetically coupled.
• at least one of the two members will comprise means for moving its distal end in various directions. Such means are by way of example wires extending from the proximal end to the distal end and connected to a steering mechanism that can be actuated by a handle located at the proximal end like in traditional biomedical catheters.
• the distal ends of both members may be manipulated independently by appropriate means.
• the medical apparatus object of the present invention comprises two different elongated members.
• a first or ablating member comprising at its distal end an ablation mean as for example an electrode connected to an RF generator adapted to perform tissues ablation in the atria.
• a second member or guiding member consists of a catheter tube intended to be introduced in the oesophagus of the patient through the mouth or the nose and guided within the portion of the oesophagus lying in the vicinity of the left atrium.
• the distal end of both members comprises at least a magnet or a magnet arrangement that allows the magnetic coupling through both the oesophagus and the atrium walls, of the distal ends of both members when they come close together.
• the guiding member in the oesophagus of the patient can be used to guide the ablation member along a predetermined trajectory to ablate cardiac tissues.
• the guiding member intended to be introduced in the oesophagus of a human body comprises a handle 1 located at the proximal end and a distal end further referenced as the head 2.
• a flexible hollow plastic tube 3 connects proximal and distal ends.
• the lower portion 4 of the tube 3 is made of a flexible plastic material and incorporates the distal end or head 2 of the guiding member.
• the handle 1 of this member further comprises a steering mechanism with two rotating command buttons 5, 6 allowing the lower portion of the catheter tube 4 and hence of the head 2 to be moved and displaced in various directions.
• the upper section of the catheter tube 3 has equidistant markers used to visually appreciate the length of advancement / withdrawal of the catheter into / from the oesophagus of the patient and hence the longitudinal displacement of the distal head 2 within the oesophagus of the patient.
• Figure 2 is a cross sectional view taken along line A-A of figure 1 and shows four wires 7,8,9,10, connected to the command buttons 5,6 and extending down to the catheter head 2. These wires actuated thanks to the rotation of the command buttons 5,6 allow transmitting tension to the flexible section 4 and permit the flexion of the catheter head 2 in different planes.
• the distal end or catheter head 2 of the guiding member comprises a magnetised portion having at least one permanent magnet or an arrangement of permanent magnets that will be described later.
• Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of the oesophageal catheter head 2 taken along line B-B of figure 1 and shows the north (N) and south (S) poles of the permanent magnet 12.
• the permanent magnet 12 is fully incorporated in the plastic head 2 at the distal end of the catheter tube 3 therefore providing an electrical isolation of the catheter head 2.
• the magnetised distal head 2 of the guiding member is intended to be coupled and to cooperate with a corresponding magnetised end of an ablation member and therefore in case RF energy is used for ablation it is important that the head 2 of the guiding member is electrically isolated.
• the guiding member head 2 is preferably shaped in such a manner as to present at least one flat surface 11 intended to be positioned against the inner wall of the oesophagus during the intervention.
• An alternative configuration of the guiding member head 2 is illustrated at figure 4 and presents a hemi-cylindrical recess 13 located within the flat surface 11 allowing a better docking of the cylindrical ablation tip that will be described later.
• the medical device object of the present invention comprises a fits or ablating member for performing ablation constituted as an example of at least one conventional ablation electrode mounted at the distal end of a catheter having a proximal and a distal ends as well as a lumen extending between the two extremities.
• a radio frequency (RF) ablation probe containing at least one ablation electrode is located at the extremity of the distal end of the ablation member and if needed may be manipulated by a physician by actuating the handle located at the proximal end or by movement of an external sheath or by bended internal core wire.
• RF radio frequency
• FIG. 5 shows schematically the distal end of the ablating member that will be further referenced as the tip 14 of the ablating member.
• the tip 14 incorporates a permanent magnet 15 in which the north and south poles are referenced with the corresponding (N) and (S) letters.
• the shape of the tip 14 of the ablation member is generally cylindrical but may take other shapes and incorporates both a permanent magnet 15 and a conventional ablation electrode.
• the tip 14 of the ablation member is attached to a flexible plastic tube 16 and a conductive wire 17 allows the delivery of an electrical current to the ablation electrode.
• the tip 14 and the distal part of the tube 16 could incorporate more than one ablation or/and sensing electrodes.
• Figure 6 shows a variant of the ablation member tip 14, which also comprises a magnet, preferably a permanent magnet 15, located within the cylindrical tip 14 of the catheter.
• the cylindrical tip 14 is affixed to the flexible tube 16 and presents a multitude of irrigation holes 17. Water can be injected through the lumen 18 of the plastic tube 16 from the proximal end to the tip 14 for cooling and cleaning purposes.
• electric current is delivered to the ablation electrode within the tip 14 through coiled metallic wires 18 incorporated within the flexible plastic tube 16.
• the coiled electric wires 19 also have a maintaining function and prevent the collapse of the lumen 18 within the catheter.
• the head 2 of the guiding member comprises a temperature sensor 20 allowing a precise measure of the temperature at the point of contact of the flat surface 11 of the head 2 onto the oesophagus wall.
• the temperature sensor 20 may be of any known type like for example, a thermocouple, a thermistor or other known means for measuring the temperature like optical fibre based sensors.
• Figure 9 as an example of the preferred embodiment shows the guiding member head 2 in contact with the inner wall 21 of the oesophagus as well as the ablation tip 14 lying against the inner wall 22 of the atrium where the head 2 and the tip 14 are magnetically coupled.
• the clinician may monitor the temperature at the point of contact of the inner oesophageal wall 21 and adjust the energy delivered to the ablation electrode in the ablation member tip 14 so as to prevent burning of the oesophagus wall.
• Energy delivered to the ablating electrode can be adjusted manually by the clinician in response to the temperature measures but the process of delivering the adequate level of energy to the ablation electrode could also be automated with an electronic control of the RF generator controlled by the temperature sensor.
• ablating catheters incorporate a temperature sensor located in the ablation tip, however these devices do not allow direct measurement of the temperature of the tissue at the point of ablation but instead provide a measure of the temperature of the catheter tip itself. This measure is not relevant as it is not indicative of the temperature of the tissue itself but is mostly influenced either by the heating of the ablation electrode when energy is delivered to the ablation tip or by the cooling process when a cooling fluid is supplied to the ablation tip.
• the temperature sensor 20 By placing the temperature sensor 20 in the head 2 of the guiding member instead of within the ablation tip 14, a much more precise measure of the temperature of the tissues (either the inner part of the oesophageal wall 21 of the surface of the atrial wall 22) is achieved, thus preventing fatal lesions due to overheating during the ablation process.
• the temperature sensor 20 By continuously monitoring the temperature thanks to the temperature sensor 20, it is possible to ablate tissues in a continuous movement of the catheters and therefore to produce continuous lines of ablation instead of discrete point-by-point movements.
• the side of the head 2 intended to contact the inner oesophageal surface comprises a force/pressure sensor 23 located in the vicinity of the temperature sensor 20 between the outer surface of the head 2 and the magnet 15.
• This pressure sensor 23 is to provide a precise indication of the tissues compression between the two magnets. It allows measuring the force created on the tissues by the interaction of the two magnets 12,15. Knowing this parameter, the clinician will also be warned if the oesophageal head 2 is wrongly positioned against the oesophageal wall.
• the pressure sensor will deliver a value which is not within the normal range knowing the parameters of the magnets and giving that way an indication to the clinician that the head 2 and the ablation tip 14 are connected in the opposite direction.
• a further advantage of including a pressure sensor is that knowing the force of interaction between the two magnets, it will allow the calculation of the distance between the head 2 of the guiding member and the tip 14 of the ablating member.
• Knowing such distance in connection with the temperature measure of the inner wall of the oesophagus will allow to improve the algorithm for calculating with high accuracy the level of energy to apply to the ablating electrode and therefore allows a more precise diameter and deepness of the ablation lesion to be created on the internal wall of the atria.
• the force/pressure sensor could be arranged in such a way that it measures only the force produced by the displacement of the magnet 12 towards the magnet 15 and do not measure the force resulting from the contact between the head 2 and the surface of the tissue.
• the magnets are mounted resiliently, for example with springs, within the rigid casing of the head 2. The magnet 12 is therefore free to move in the vertical direction within the casing of the head 2. At the rest position the magnet 12 is centred within the casing of the head 2 and do not enter into contact with the force/pressure sensor. Once magnetic coupling occurs, the magnet is displaced against the force/pressure sensor. This will allow measuring of only the force of interaction between two magnets.
• the ablation tip 14 comprises a spherical recess 24 in which a ball 25 can freely rotate when driven along the wall of the atria.
• two optical fibres 26,27 are arranged in the tip14 in such a way that they can deliver a signal corresponding to the rotation of the ball 25 thus allowing determining the distance covered by the tip 14 when moving along the surface of the atrial wall.
• Figure 13 shows an alternate embodiment that also allows determining the displacement of the ablating tip 14 over the atrial wall. In this embodiment there is no rotating ball but instead two optical fibres that read directly the displacement of the tip14 relative to the atrial wall.
• Figure 14 shows another alternate embodiment of the ablating tip 14 in which the shape of the ablating tip 14 is an ovoid. This shape allows smoother displacement of the ablating tip 14 on the surface of the heart chamber by minimizing the contact zone between the ablating tip 14 and the surface 22 of the heart chamber.
• the ovoid shape is preferred as it allows easier displacement of the ablating tip.
• the magnet 15 in the ablating tip 14 is placed longitudinally as opposed to the previous embodiments in which the north and south poles were arranged vertically.
• the corresponding magnet in the guiding member 2 is accordingly also arranged longitudinally. Both arrangement, vertical and longitudinal can be used indifferently. Clinical tests have shown that even when an ovoidally shaped ablating tip 14 was used the ablating tip was sometimes magnetically disengaged with the guiding member 2, because it encounters an obstacle.
• FIG. 16 shows another alternate embodiment of the ablating tip 14, in which the ablating tip is shaped as an ovoid volume and further comprises an helically shaped ridge on its periphery. The purpose of this helically shaped ridge is to improve the displacement of the ablating tip 14 by minimizing the contact zone between the tissues and the tip.
• the ablating tip is free to rotate on itself when moving along the atrial surface.
• the plastic tube 16 will preferably be made in material that is more soft and flexible that the material used for the tube 3 of the guiding member, this to minimize the resistance and to improve the guiding of the ablating tip.
• FIGS 17 and 18, which are respectively a side view and a top view of the schematically represented ablating tip moving along the tissue surface, one sees that thanks to the movement (either rotational or back and forth) applied on the guiding member, the ablating tip slowly rotates and is axially shifted at the same time thus rendering the progression easier of the ablating tip on the wall of the atrium especially in presence of obstacles.
• the back and forth and/or rotational movement can be achieved manually by the surgeon when performing the intervention but preferably, the guiding member is arranged with mechanical means (pneumatic or electric motor) to achieve the back and forth or rotational movement of the head 2 of the guiding member.
• FIG. 19 shows 3 central magnets 43 longitudinally located in the head of the guiding member and two vertically arranged magnets 44. All these magnets are magnetized axially (with respect to the magnet).
• a single magnet can obviously replace the central portion constituted of three magnets. This magnet configuration is similar to a Hallbach array, but due to another orientation of end magnets, an asymmetric magnetic field is created in this case.
• Figure 20 shows schematically the magnetic field generated by this magnet arrangement.
• FIG. 21 Such an arrangement is depicted schematically at figure 21.
• the magnet located within the ablating tip 21 is represented as a cylindrical magnet 28 positioned at a certain distance of from the origin of the y-axis.
• the arrow 29 represents the magnetization orientation of said magnet.
• the magnet arrangement that is intended to be inserted in the head 2 of the guiding member is depicted on the right side of picture 21.
• This magnet arrangement is composed of two groups of three different permanent magnets 30,31 ,32,33,34,35 located symmetrically with regard to the z-axis.
• the corresponding arrows 36,37,38,39,40,41 indicate their respective magnetisation orientation.
• the magnets 30,31 ,32,33,34,35 will be synchronously rotated. If the left column of magnets (30,31 ,32) is rotated in the counter-clockwise direction then the right column of magnets (33,34,35) has to be rotated in the clockwise direction or vice versa by the same angle. By this rotation of the magnets, the force of attraction between the magnet 28 and the arrangement of magnets in the head of the guiding member can be decreased down to zero or even transformed to a repulsive force if needed. The force magnitude depends both on the distance and the rotation angle.
• the clinician can precisely adapt the force of attraction between the guiding member and the ablating tip.
• the position of the ablating electrode is determined and always perpendicular to the tissue to ablate and therefore continuous ablation lines can be achieved.
• the clinician With the temperature sensor located in the head 2 of the member not bearing the ablation electrode, the clinician has a precise knowledge of the physiological condition in the vicinity of the ablation area and therefore energy delivered to the ablation electrode can be adjusted and optimised so as to prevent burning of the oesophageal wall during the intervention.
• the main purpose of this medical apparatus is to produce continuous ablation line on the left atrium wall thanks to the energy delivered to the ablating electrode located in the tip 14 of the ablation member.
• the ablation catheter is introduced through natural passageway, vein or artery usually in the groin or neck area, and further guided by the physician into the chosen heart chamber by appropriate manipulations of the steering mechanism.
• the guiding member or oesophageal catheter is introduced through the mouth or the nose of the patient into its oesophagus until the head 2 of the guiding member reaches the vicinity of the left atrium. It may be noted that other introduction sites are also possible to achieve the same result.
• the head 2 of the oesophageal catheter will enter in magnetic coupling with the tip 14 of the ablation catheter. Magnetic coupling of the tip 14 and the head 2 occurs trough both the oesophageal wall and the left atrial wall.
• the ablation catheter tip 14 may be controlled and guided by moving only the oesophageal catheter both longitudinally by pulling and pushing the oesophageal catheter as well as laterally by acting on the command buttons 5,6 which will cause a flexion of the distal end of the oesophageal catheter head 2.
• the ablation tip of the ablation catheter can be moved within the left atrium chamber by acting only on the oesophageal catheter, without the need of acting on the steering mechanism of the member bearing the ablation electrode.
• the movements of the oesophageal catheter will drag down the magnetically coupled ablation tip 14 allowing controlled displacement of the ablation tip along the inner surface of the left atrium.
• These steps are generally performed under fluoroscopy or any other suitable non-invasive imaging technique to assist the clinician to correctly position the two catheters and to allow the magnetic coupling of the head 2 and the ablation tip 14.
• the longitudinal movements of the system across the left atrium are performed by pulling, respectively pushing the oesophageal catheter.
• the amplitude of the longitudinal movement is measured with reference to the markers appearing on the section of the proximal end of the oesophageal catheter.
• the perpendicular movements are achieved thanks to lateral flexion of the oesophageal catheter obtained by actuating the steering mechanism of the guiding member. Thanks to the rotating ball or the signal delivered by the optical fibres shown at figures 12 and 13, the displacement of the ablating tip 14 can be precisely monitored and calculated.
• the ablation tip 14 may be equipped with other ablating means known in the art, such as laser ablation, cryogenic ablation, ultrasound ablation, micro-waives ablation, others.
• the member bearing the ablating tip can be constituted of a simple flexible tube with a distal end comprising the ablation electrode as well as the magnet.
• the member bearing the temperature sensor may also be constituted of a single flexible body having at its distal end a head comprising a magnet and a temperature sensor. In that case, after magnetic coupling with the member bearing the ablation electrode, the guiding of the ablating member is realized with traditional means used in catheter intervention as disclosed in the previous paragraphs.
• the catheter bearing the temperature sensor will be placed in the right atrium and the ablation catheter in the left atrium. If the lower-posterior part of the atria is to be ablated, the member bearing the temperature sensor will be placed into the coronary sinus and the ablation catheter into the left or right atrium. Should the left ventricle be ablated the member bearing the temperature sensor will be positioned into coronary vein and the ablating catheter into the left ventricle. Other locations are also possible.
• the working principle remains the same; only the size and configuration of the members should be adapted to be introduced in the above referenced regions of the human body.

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• 2007
  • 2007-07-06 JP JP2009518993A patent/JP2009545338A/ja active Pending
  • 2007-07-06 EP EP07804572A patent/EP2037828A2/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2007-07-06 WO PCT/IB2007/001869 patent/WO2008010039A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2007-07-06 US US12/373,281 patent/US8048072B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

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