Insulated Wide-Area Focal Ablation Catheter for Targeted Cardiac Tissue
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ablation techniques, such as RF ablation and cryoablation, often indiscriminately kill tissue, leading to damage or death of healthy tissue, whereas irreversible electroporation aims to target specific tissue while sparing adjacent non-targeted tissues, but current devices may cause collateral damage due to large electric fields generated.
Innovation Solution
The development of a wide-area focal ablation catheter with an expandable electrode assembly and insulation portions to control and focus the electric field, allowing for targeted tissue ablation while minimizing damage to surrounding tissues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If thermal ablation techniques (RF ablation, cryoablation) are used to destroy tissue, then tissue ablation is achieved, but healthy tissue is damaged or killed indiscriminately
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces thermal ablation mechanisms (heat-based RF ablation or cold-based cryoablation) with electrical field-based irreversible electroporation. This substitution allows selective tissue destruction through controlled electrical fields that target specific cell membranes without causing thermal damage to surrounding healthy tissue, thereby resolving the contradiction between effective ablation and preservation of healthy tissue.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of energy delivery from thermal energy (heat or cold) to electrical energy. By using controlled electrical field strength and duration parameters, the system achieves selective irreversible electroporation of target tissue while sparing adjacent healthy tissue, thus improving reliability of ablation while reducing harmful effects on healthy tissue.
2Reliability
If irreversible electroporation is used to target specific tissue, then selective ablation is achieved, but collateral damage occurs due to large electric fields
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating insulated portions on the electrode assembly that selectively block electrical field transmission to specific regions. This allows the electric field to be concentrated and directed precisely at the target tissue area, enhancing selective ablation while preventing collateral damage to adjacent healthy tissue by blocking field spread to non-target regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulated portions act as intermediaries between the electrode assembly and the surrounding tissue. These insulation structures mediate the electrical field interaction by containing and directing the field to specific target areas while blocking harmful field spread to adjacent non-target tissue, thus enabling selective ablation without collateral damage.
3Area of stationary object
If an expandable electrode assembly is used to increase ablation area, then wider lesion coverage is achieved, but control and precision of electric field distribution is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by incorporating insulated portions at specific locations on the expandable electrode assembly. This allows different regions of the electrode assembly to have different electrical properties - the insulated portions block field transmission in specific areas while other regions maintain conductivity for ablation, thereby maintaining precision of electric field distribution even with increased ablation area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the electrode assembly into distinct functional regions by adding insulated portions. This segmentation allows the large expandable electrode structure to maintain precise control over electric field distribution by dividing the electrode surface into insulated and conductive zones, enabling wide-area ablation with maintained field precision.
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 catheter effectively generates larger lesions with more control and flexibility, reducing the risk of collateral damage and improving the precision of tissue ablation, particularly in cardiac tissue.
Implementation Method 1
In electroporation, or electro-permeabilization, an electrical field is applied to cells in order to increase the permeability of the cell membrane
Implementation Method 2
The development of a wide-area focal ablation catheter with an expandable electrode assembly and insulation portions to control and focus the electric field
Data Source
AI summary
An electroporation catheter for ablation of cardiac tissue is disclosed. The electroporation catheter includes an elongated shaft having a proximal end and an opposite distal end. The elongated shaft defines an axis. An electrode assembly is coupled to and extends distally from the distal end of the elongated shaft. The electrode assembly is transitionable between a collapsed state and an expanded state. The electrode assembly includes conductive struts that define a spherical shape in the expanded state having a proximal portion coupled to the elongated shaft, a central portion having a maximum radial dimension and a distal portion opposite the elongated shaft. A proximal insulation portion is disposed on the proximal portion of the electrode assembly surrounding each of the plurality of conductive struts. The proximal insulator portion extends from the proximal end to at least the central portion.