Planar End Effector with Segmented Irrigation for Cardiac Ablation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current treatments for cardiac arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation, face challenges in effectively disrupting abnormal electrical pathways within the heart, particularly in delivering targeted energy for ablation while ensuring adequate irrigation and minimizing blood stagnation and thrombosis risks during intracardiac procedures.
Innovation Solution
The design of a planar end effector for catheters featuring linear spine segments with electrodes and dedicated irrigation tubes, allowing for controlled fluid flow through varying pore sizes, flow directions, and cross-sectional areas, which expand at the treatment site to provide uniform irrigation and support targeted energy delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a planar end effector with dedicated irrigation tubes is used, then uniform fluid flow and irrigation effectiveness are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The end effector is divided into multiple independent spine segments (first spine segment, second spine segment, third spine segment) with dedicated irrigation tubes for each segment. This segmentation allows uniform fluid distribution across different regions while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
Each spine segment has its own irrigation tube with pores specifically positioned to provide localized fluid flow. The irrigation pores are distributed at specific locations (e.g., proximal, distal, intermediate positions) to ensure uniform irrigation coverage in each region, improving overall irrigation effectiveness
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple irrigation tubes with pores are positioned within the electrode array, then flow control precision is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The irrigation pores are designed with varying parameters including different sizes, positions, and distributions along each irrigation tube. By controlling pore parameters (e.g., pore diameter, spacing, location relative to electrodes), precise flow control is achieved while using standard manufacturing techniques
3Area of stationary object
If the end effector expands to a deployed configuration with parallel spine segments, then treatment coverage is improved, but collapse size for delivery increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spine segments are designed with curved or flexible connections that allow the end effector to collapse into a compact configuration for delivery through catheters while expanding into a planar, parallel arrangement at the treatment site. The curved loop members enable this transformation between delivery and operational states
Data Source
AI summary
Planar end effector designs having irrigation are presented. The example end effectors are configured to be affixed to a distal end of a catheter and delivered through vasculature in a collapsed configuration and expand at an intracardiac treatment site to a deployed configuration. In some instances, the end effector can have an electrode array with sufficient density to perform mapping and irrigation for mapping. The end effector can include dedicated irrigation tubes and/or irrigating electrode-carrying spines to irrigate within the electrode array. Flow rate at positions within the electrode array can be controlled in a predetermined manner by varying pore/port size, flow direction, and/or flow path cross-section throughout an irrigation flow path in the end effector.