102 results about "Heart Catheters" patented technology

Devices (1) and methods for accomplishing tasks within a body using infrared imaging are disclosed which, in connection with other known components, are useful in ablation, stitching and other operations, identification of sizes and composition of objects, and the creation of maps by taking multiple images at different positions or times.

A resonant circuit is incorporated in a stent, which implantable in a pulmonary vein using known cardiac catheterization techniques. When an external RF field is generated at the resonant frequency of the stent, RF energy is re-radiated by the stent toward electroconductive tissue in the wall of the pulmonary vein, and produces a circumferential conduction block. The stent can be made of biodegradable materials, so that it eventually is resorbed. Following an ablation procedure, the stent may be left in situ. Repeated ablation can be performed using the inserted stent until it has been determined that the desired lesions have been formed. Furthermore, the same stent can potentially be used even years after being inserted should the treated arrhythmia reoccur or a new arrhythmia develop, thereby possibly obviating the need for an invasive procedure at that future time.

Catheters and methods are provided for performing medical procedures, such as tissue ablation, adjacent the ostia of anatomical vessels, such as pulmonary veins. The catheter comprises an elongated flexible integrated catheter body having proximal and distal shaft portions and at least one operative element carried by the distal shaft portion. The distal shaft portion has a proximal section configured to be internally actuated (e.g., using a steering mechanism or pre-shaping the proximal section) to form a simple curve with an apex that can be inserted into the vessel ostium, an intermediate section pre-shaped to form a curve that bends opposite the simple curve, and a distal section configured to be placed into a non-radial relationship (tangential or oblique) with the vessel ostium when the apex of the simple curve is inserted into the vessel ostium. By this arrangement, the operative element is configured to be placed firmly in contact with tissue at a predefined radial location relative to the vessel ostium when the apex of the simple curve is inserted into the vessel ostium.

Cardiac catheterization is carried out by memorizing a designation of a contact state between an electrode of the probe and the heart wall as one of an in-contact state and an out-of-contact state, and making a series of determinations of an impedance phase angle of an electrical current passing through the electrode and another electrode, identifying maximum and minimum phase angles in the series, and defining a binary classifier adaptively as midway between the extremes. A test value is compared to the classifier as adjusted by a hysteresis factor, and a change in the contact state is reported when the test value exceeds or falls below the adjusted classifier.

Radiosurgical treatments of tissues of the heart mitigate arrhythmias and treat other tumerous and non-tumerous disease using an implanted fiducial positioned in or near the heart using cardiac catheterization techniques. The fiducials may be implanted after diagnostic and planning images of the target tissues have been acquired. Fiducial implantation may take place the day of a scheduled radiosurgical treatment. Techniques to accommodate post-planning fiducial implantation may include registration of the implanted fiducial location with the treatment plan, and active fiducials may limit collateral imaging radiation exposure while enhancing tracking accuracy.

Embodiments of the present description provide a medical apparatus for use in supporting a patient lying in a supine position during a radial cardiac catheterization procedure. More particularly, embodiments of the present description provide an arm board a patient's arm during a radial cardiac catheterization procedure. The arm board is a substantially planar member having a support surface on which the patient's arm can be stabilized during a catheterization procedure. Desirably, the arm board has both a radiolucent portion and a radiopaque portion, thereby reducing and/or eliminating a doctor's exposure to radiation during radial cardiac catheterization procedures without impairing the ability to obtain the necessary medical images. Also provided is a medical apparatus and a method for its use.

Fenestrated Asymmetric Intracardiac Device for the completion of total cavopulmonary connection through cardiac catheterization, having a bifurcated tubular conduct, constituted by two portions (1, 2) both made of a tubular mesh covered with an impermeable polymer. Upper end (5) of first portion (1) is progressively flattened to a substantially oval shape, with progressive cross sections of an equal area.

First portion (1) presents at least a lateral fenestration (5) which is selectively obturable. Second upper portion (2) bifurcates into two divergent branches (7, 6) and backwards forming with respect to the longest branch a deformed “Y”, of which: branch (6) is the longest and is introduced into the left pulmonary artery, while branch (7) is shorter and lodges into the right shorted pulmonary artery. The device defines a connection between the inferior vena cava and pulmonary branches, establishing a physiological distribution of the blood flow in both lungs.

The present invention is directed to a procedure and a special balloon used in balloon angioplasty and stent installation in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), which employs a heart catheter with a balloon at its distal end. After being inflated, the balloon is in doughnut shape with a hole in the center; its length is made to fit the length of the stent to be inflated. During an angioplasty procedure, the balloon is pushed forward into the stenosis and inflated with a device to dilate the blockage. The doughnut_shaped balloon provides a pass way for blood to flow through the coronary artery vessel, which does not cause angina akin to a heart attack resulted from traditional tube_shaped balloons used in the PTCA procedure that completely block blood flow after being fully inflated during balloon angioplasty and stent installation.

The present invention is directed toward a lesion measuring device for use with cardiac catheterization assemblies. In one embodiment, the assembly comprises a plurality of rulers physically attached to at least one housing. The housing is configured to connect the assembly to a catheterization assembly. The assembly includes a slidable member engaged with at least one of the plurality of rulers, and a torquer configured to move in relation to a guidewire and the slidable member.

MRI-guided robotics offers possibility for physicians to perform interventions remotely on confined anatomy. While the pathological and physiological changes could be visualized by high-contrast volumetric MRI scan during the procedure, robots promise improved navigation with added dexterity and precision. In cardiac catheterization, however, maneuvering a long catheter (1-2 meters) to the desired location and performing the therapy are still challenging. To meet this challenge, this invention presents an MRI-conditional catheter robotic system that integrates intra-op MRI, MR-based tracking units and enhanced visual guidance with catheter manipulation. This system differs fundamentally from existing master/slave catheter manipulation systems, of which the robotic manipulation is still challenging due to the very limited image guidance. This system provides a means of integrating intra-operative MR imaging and tracking to improve the performance of tele-operated robotic catheterization.

Cardiac catheterization is carried out by clothing a subject in a torso vest having a plurality of sensing electrodes, magnetic location sensors, active current location sensors and patches for establishing galvanic contact with the skin. A multi-electrode probe is inserted into a cardiac chamber such that a plurality of intracardiac electrodes are disposed at respective locations in the heart. Respective locations are determined using the active current location sensors, Electrical calibration signals are emitted from the intracardiac electrodes, and received in the sensing electrodes of the torso vest. Relationships between the emitted calibration signals and the received calibration signals in the intracardiac electrodes are established to map a correspondence between the received calibration signals and the respective locations.

Cardiac catheterization is facilitated by generating first and second electroanatomic maps of a heart of a subject and designating common spatial locations that correspond to first electrical events on the first electroanatomic map and second electrical events on the second electroanatomic map. The common spatial locations of the first electroanatomic map and the second electroanatomic map are aligned to establish an aligned map, and using the location data on the aligned map to guide a probe to a point of interest.

Cardiac catheterization is carried out by inserting a multi-electrode probe into a heart, constructing a position map of the electrodes, and simulating a 3-dimensional surface of the heart. The method is further carried out by placing the position map in registration with an acquired image of the heart, constructing, based on the position map, a mesh that models the 3-dimensional surface of the heart, and adjusting positions of vertices of the mesh relative to mapped points in the position map to improve a registration of the mesh with the acquired image.

The invention relates to a rapid capture device of a three-dimensional structure. Compared with an existing two-dimensional plane loop capture device, the three-dimensional rapid capture device has the advantages that due to the fact that the three-dimensional structural design is adopted, the space where capture can be conducted is greatly expanded and a leap from the two-dimensional plane to the three-dimensional structure is achieved. The three-dimensional rapid capture device comprises a handle, a capture rod and a capture sleeve. One end of the capture rod is connected with the handle and the other end of the capture rod is connected with the capture sleeve. The capture sleeve comprises at least three spiral capture wires, wherein the two ends of each capture wire are connected with the two ends of another capture wire respectively. When the capture sleeve is used, the capture wires face one another and are expanded in a spiral mode, so that a three-dimensional network space is formed. The three-dimensional rapid capture device is applied to a congenital heart disease cardiac transcatheter closure operation and other transcatheter interventional therapy (such as an arterial aneurysm operation) and is used for rapidly capturing guidewires to establish a conveying track.