Adjustable Catheter with Radially Expanded Electrode Array
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current cardiac ablation devices are inadequate for treating various cardiac arrhythmias as they often require multiple devices to effectively address irregular electrical activity in different cardiac locations, such as pulmonary veins, septum, and heart wall, due to their limited anatomical adaptability and navigation difficulties.
Innovation Solution
A medical device with an adjustable electrode array that transitions from a linear to a radially expanded configuration, allowing for adjustable diameter and radial symmetry, enabling effective ablation of cardiac tissues including pulmonary veins, septum, and heart wall using a single device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple ablation devices are used to treat different cardiac locations, then treatment effectiveness is improved, but device complexity and procedural difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ablation catheter is designed with a reconfigurable electrode array that can assume multiple geometric configurations (e.g., circular, linear, asymmetric patterns) to treat different cardiac locations including pulmonary veins, left atrial appendage, and ventricular septum. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for multiple specialized devices while maintaining treatment effectiveness across various arrhythmia types.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode array incorporates movable electrodes that can be dynamically repositioned relative to one another under fluoroscopic or echocardiographic guidance. This dynamic reconfiguration capability allows the single device to adapt its geometry to match different anatomical targets, replacing the need for multiple fixed-geometry devices.
2Manufacturing precision
If specialized catheters are used for specific anatomical locations, then ablation precision is improved, but adaptability to treat multiple locations decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter features dynamically repositionable electrodes that can be adjusted to create precise ablation patterns tailored to specific anatomical locations. The electrodes can be moved independently or in groups to form circular patterns for pulmonary vein isolation, linear patterns for roof ablation, or asymmetric patterns for left atrial appendage treatment, all with the same device.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode array is divided into multiple independently controllable electrode segments or groups. Each group can be repositioned relative to the others, allowing the creation of various geometric patterns. This segmentation enables the catheter to achieve location-specific precision while maintaining versatility across different anatomical targets.
3Reliability
If device replacement is performed during surgery to address different arrhythmia locations, then treatment completeness is improved, but procedural time and risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The single ablation catheter is designed to treat multiple arrhythmia substrates including atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, and ventricular tachycardia by reconfiguring its electrode array. This eliminates the need for device exchanges during the procedure, reducing procedural time and patient risk while ensuring complete treatment of all identified arrhythmia locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is designed in advance with the capability to assume multiple configurations, allowing the operator to plan and execute a comprehensive ablation strategy for all anticipated arrhythmia locations without interrupting the procedure for device changes. The reconfigurable design enables seamless transition between different ablation patterns.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device allows for versatile ablation of cardiac tissues, creating linear or circumferential lesions across various cardiac locations, improving treatment efficiency and reducing the need for multiple devices during procedures.
Implementation Method 1
Catheter ablation frequently used to treat AF, which involves a minimally invasive procedure by which areas of cardiac tissue that facilitate the irregular electrical conduction are ablated using any of a number of energy modalities.
Implementation Method 2
the ablation catheter is placed around the opening of the PV to the heart and/or within the PV where the foci are located
Data Source
AI summary
A device and method for treating a variety of tissue locations within a patient's body using a single device that includes an elongate body having a distal portion, a shaft rotatably and slidably disposed within the elongate body, and a first arm and a second arm each coupled to the elongate body distal portion. Retraction and rotation of the shaft transitions the each arm from a linear configuration to a radially expanded configuration in which each arm has an arcuate shape and lies in a plane that is substantially orthogonal to the elongate body longitudinal axis. Electrodes coupled to the arms are equidistant from the longitudinal axis of the elongate body in different radial directions when the device is in the radially expanded configuration. The electrodes are radially symmetrical about the shaft when the radially expanded configuration has a first diameter or a second diameter.