CIRCUMFERENTIAL ABLATION DEVICE ASSEMBLY
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Abstract
This invention is a circumferential ablation device assembly which is adapted to forming a circumferential conduction block in a pulmonary vein. The assembly includes a circumferential ablation element which is adapted to ablate a circumferential region of tissue along a pulmonary vein wall which circumscribes the pulmonary vein lumen, thereby transecting the electrical conductivity of the pulmonary vein against conduction along its longitudinal axis and into the left atrium. The circumferential ablation element includes an expandable member with a working length that is adjustable from a radially collapsed position to a radially expanded position. An equatorial band circumscribes the outer surface of the working length and is adapted to ablate tissue adjacent thereto when actuated by an ablation actuator. The equatorial band has a length relative to the longitudinal axis of the expandable member that is narrow relative to the working length, and is also substantially shorter than its circumference when the working length is in the radially expanded position. A pattern of insulators may be included over an ablation element which otherwise spans the working length in order to form the equatorial band described. The expandable member is also adapted to conform to the pulmonary vein in the region of its ostium, such as by providing a great deal of radial compliance or by providing a taper along the working length which has a distally reducing outer diameter. A linear ablation element is provided adjacent to the circumferential ablation element in a combination assembly which is adapted for use in a less-invasive “maze”-type procedure in the region of the pulmonary vein ostia in the left ventricle.
132 Citations
80 Claims
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1-62. -62. (canceled)
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63. A method for treating atrial arrhythmia by forming a lesion at a location where a pulmonary vein extends from an atrium in a patient, comprising:
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delivering a treatment device to the location, the treatment device comprising an expandable contact member and an ablation element; adjusting the expandable contact member to a radially expanded position in the atrium; forcing the expanded contact member retrogradedly against the pulmonary vein ostium to engage the pulmonary vein ostium of the pulmonary vein along the posterior atrial wall such that a circumferential area of the expandable contact member is positioned along a circumferential region of tissue near the pulmonary vein ostium; and actuating the ablation element to ablate at least a portion of the circumferential region of tissue to form said lesion. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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Specification