Collapsible Electrode Apparatus for Cardiac Signal Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cardiac arrhythmia treatment methods, such as catheter-based ablation, face challenges in achieving high-density signal mapping and adaptability to varying cardiac tissue surfaces, requiring improved catheter designs for effective signal measurement and ablation.
Innovation Solution
The development of a catheter with an end effector featuring loop members and electrodes that can collapse and expand to fit within a catheter, allowing for high-density signal mapping and adaptability to different tissue surfaces, including flat, curved, and irregular surfaces, while maintaining the ability to measure electrical signals and deliver energy for ablation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a mapping catheter uses high-density electrodes to provide high-resolution signal maps, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The end effector is divided into multiple spines (typically three) with electrodes distributed along each spine. This segmentation allows the complex high-density electrode array to be organized into manageable modular units that can be independently positioned and controlled, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining high measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter transitions from a one-dimensional linear electrode array to a two-dimensional or three-dimensional array by deploying spines in multiple directions. This dimensional expansion allows high-density signal mapping across a larger tissue surface area, improving measurement precision without proportionally increasing device complexity
2Ease of operation
If the catheter is designed to be collapsible for atraumatic advancement through vasculature, then ease of operation is improved, but the ability to adapt to different tissue surfaces deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The end effector employs dynamic spines that can transition between a collapsed configuration for catheter advancement and an expanded configuration for tissue contact. This dynamic capability allows the device to adapt its shape in real-time, maintaining ease of operation during insertion while achieving full adaptability to different tissue surfaces during the procedure
Solution Approach 2:
The spines are designed to nest within each other or collapse into a compact configuration that fits within the catheter body during advancement. This nesting mechanism allows the complex multi-spine structure to be concealed within the simple catheter form, enabling easy navigation through vasculature while preserving the ability to expand for tissue adaptation
3Productivity
If the end effector collects larger amounts of data signals within shorter time spans, then productivity is improved, but measurement precision may deteriorate due to signal density requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode array is segmented into multiple spines with distributed electrodes, allowing parallel data collection from multiple tissue locations simultaneously. This segmentation enables high productivity by collecting large amounts of data across the entire electrode array in a single measurement cycle, while maintaining precision through the high spatial density of individual electrodes
Solution Approach 2:
The spines are designed to maintain continuous contact with the tissue surface during data collection, ensuring that electrical signal measurement is uninterrupted. This continuous contact allows for rapid sequential measurements across multiple electrodes without losing signal integrity, thereby improving productivity while preserving measurement precision
Data Source
AI summary
Example apparatuses disclosed herein are generally usable with catheter-based systems to measure or provide electrical signals within the heart and surrounding vasculature. Example apparatuses generally include an end effector having loop members with electrodes thereon. The loop members are shaped to be delivered through, deployed from, and retracted into a catheter such that the loop members can be collapsed down to fit within the catheter and resiliently spread to form a paddle shape with deployed. Some of the loop members can include features approximate a distal end of the respective loop member to facilitate collapse when the end effector is retracted into the catheter.