Expandable PEF Ablation Electrodes for Urethral Tissue Sparing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ablation therapies in and around tubular anatomies often cause collateral damage to surrounding tissues due to thermal effects, necessitating a need for a more targeted and selective approach that can selectively target different tissue types with minimal collateral damage.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus includes a shaft with expandable electrodes that can transition between unexpanded and expanded configurations to anchor and engage tissue, delivering pulsed electric field ablation therapy to target tissues while minimizing collateral damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If thermal ablation (RF, cryogenic, or microwave ablation) is applied to tubular anatomies, then ablation therapy can be delivered to target tissue, but collateral damage to surrounding tissues occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode is divided into multiple independently controllable segments or zones along its length. Each segment can be activated or deactivated independently, allowing selective application of ablation therapy to specific target areas while avoiding adjacent healthy tissues. This segmentation enables precise spatial control over the treatment zone.
Solution Approach 2:
The ablation energy is concentrated and applied locally to specific target tissues through controlled electrode activation patterns. By adjusting which electrode segments are active and their respective power levels, the therapy delivers high energy density precisely where needed while maintaining low or zero energy delivery to surrounding healthy tissues, thus minimizing collateral damage.
2Measurement precision
If expandable electrodes are used to engage and expand neighboring tissue, then precise ablation therapy delivery is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable electrode employs a nested structure where the conductive elements are positioned within or alongside expandable support structures. When the support structure expands (e.g., via balloon inflation), it provides a stable framework that automatically positions the electrodes at optimal spacing and orientation against the tissue wall, eliminating the need for complex independent positioning mechanisms for each electrode.
Solution Approach 2:
The expandable electrode structure utilizes the expansion force itself to achieve proper positioning and spacing. As the electrode expands to engage the tissue, the mechanical forces automatically adjust electrode-tissue contact and inter-electrode spacing, providing self-positioning functionality that reduces the need for additional active control systems.
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 apparatus enables precise ablation therapy delivery with reduced procedural complications, shorter healing times, and preservation of patient functions like ejaculatory function, without the need for post-procedure catheters.
Implementation Method 1
the first lumen configured to convey fluid to the first expandable element to expand the first expandable element such that the first conductive element transitions from an unexpanded configuration to an expanded configuration
Implementation Method 2
Pulsed electric field ablation, also known as irreversible electroporation, has been recently developed for cardiac applications as a non-thermal ablation modality
Implementation Method 3
the plurality of electrodes configured to transition from an unexpanded configuration to an expanded configuration in which the plurality of electrodes are configured to engage and expand at least a wall of the urethra and deliver pulsed field ablation energy via at least a portion of the urethra to prostate tissue adjacent thereto
Data Source
AI summary
In some embodiments, an apparatus comprises a shaft configured to be navigated through an anatomy toward a target tissue of a patient and a plurality of electrodes disposed around a distal portion of the shaft and spaced axially along the shaft. The plurality of electrodes include a distal electrode and a proximal set of electrodes. The distal electrode can be configured to transition from an unexpanded configuration to an expanded configuration independently from the proximal set of electrodes to anchor the distal portion of the shaft relative to the target tissue. The proximal set of electrodes configured to transition from a unexpanded configuration to an expanded configuration to contact neighboring tissue. The plurality of electrodes, after the distal electrode and the proximal set of electrodes are in the expanded configuration, can be configured to deliver pulsed field ablation to ablate at least a portion of the target tissue.