System and method for displaying contact between a catheter and tissue

• US 20090177111A1
• Filed: 01/14/2009
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: St. Jude Medical, Atrial Fibrillation Division, Inc. (Abbott Laboratories)
• Original Assignee: St. Jude Medical, Atrial Fibrillation Division, Inc. (Abbott Laboratories)
• Inventors: Drigans, Patrick W., Hill, Lewis C. II, Cotner, Holly, Paul, Saurav, Malinin, Yuriy, Mouw, Suzann R., Deno, Don C., Miller, Stephan P.
• Application Number:
  US12/353,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20090177111A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/547
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/02 by cooling, e.g. cryogenic techniques devices for cooling specific reflex points of the body within cell-life limits A61H39/06
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1206 Generators therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1492 having a flexible, catheter-like structure, e.g. for heart ablation A61B18/1477 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2218/002 Irrigation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/053 Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of a portion of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/283 Invasive
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6885 Monitoring or controlling sensor contact pressure

Abstract

A system and method for assessing and displaying a degree of contact between a sensor, an electrode, and tissue in a body is provided. Values for the sensor are read, and a degree of contact is calculated. This degree of contact is displayed to a clinician in a variety of ways to indicate the degree of contact to the clinician. The system and method find particular application in ablation of tissue by permitting a clinician to create lesions in the tissue more effectively and safely.

Claims

1. A system for displaying contact between a catheter and a tissue in a body, comprising:

a catheter comprising a distal portion and a sensor; and

a controller in operable communication with the sensor and configured to receive as input therefrom a reading indicative of a degree of contact between the distal portion and the tissue, to calculate a degree of contact between the distal portion of the catheter and the tissue, and to provide an output indicative of the degree of contact.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor comprises at least one electrode.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor senses a first impedance component.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the controller is configured to display the first impedance component and a second impedance component.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor is a force sensor.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor is an optical sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display coupled to the controller.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to output a model of the tissue and a model of the catheter to be displayed on the display.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the controller is configured to display a waveform indicative of the degree of contact on the display.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the controller is configured to display a meter indicative of the degree of contact on the display.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein an appearance of the meter changes as the sensor reading changes.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein an appearance of the meter changes when the sensor reading crosses a programmable threshold value.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the meter changes color as the sensor reading crosses a programmable threshold value.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the controller is configured to display a beacon projected onto the displayed catheter model.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein, as the sensor reading varies, the beacon changes in a manner selected from the group consisting of color, size, length, intensity, shape and combinations thereof.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the controller is configured to identify a portion of the sensor in contact with the tissue and to adjust the projected beacon to display an orientation of the catheter relative to the tissue.

17. A method for displaying contact between a catheter and a tissue in a body, comprising:

providing a catheter having a distal portion and a sensor on the distal portion;

providing a controller in communication with a display;

establishing communication between the sensor and the controller;

acquiring a sensor reading indicative of a degree of contact between the distal portion of the catheter and the tissue;

calculating a degree of contact between the sensor and the tissue; and

displaying a graphical representation of the calculated degree of contact on the display.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the acquiring step includes measuring an impedance component of the tissue in contact with the distal portion of the catheter.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said calculating step includes the substep of calculating a composite value for two components of a complex impedance.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising displaying a model of the catheter on the display, wherein the step of displaying a graphical representation of the calculated degree of contact on the display comprises displaying a graphical representation of the calculated degree of contact on the model of the catheter.

27. The method of claim 17 wherein the acquiring step includes measuring impedance of a component of the catheter which is indicative of a degree of contract between the distal portion of the catheter and the tissue.

21. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a catheter with a sensor; and

a computer storage medium having a computer program encoded thereon for determining a degree of contact between a sensor and tissue in a body, said computer program including computer code for;

calculating a degree of contact in response to a signal from the sensor; and

generating a visual indicator of the degree of contact to be displayed on a display device.

22. The article of claim 21, wherein the computer program further comprises computer code for determining a location of the catheter in relation to the tissue in the body.

23. The article of claim 22, wherein the computer program further comprises computer code for calculating a location of the tissue and for generating a representation of the tissue to be displayed on the display device.

24. The article of claim 23, wherein the representation is an electro anatomical map of a heart.

25. The article of claim 23, wherein the computer program utilizes the degree of contact in calculating the location of the tissue.

26. The article of claim 24, further comprising a low pass filter.