Acoustic ablation
First Claim
1. A catheter system for tissue ablation, comprising:
- a catheter body of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source,an array of acoustic transducers disposed along the length of said catheter body and constructed for receiving power from said power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to said received power, sufficient for ablation of tissue, anda mechanism for controlling one or more of said ablation transducers independently of other ones of said transducers to produce a desired acoustic energy pattern for ablating tissue at a select location spaced from said catheter,at least one of said acoustic transducers having an annular configuration designed for generating acoustic energy that radiates in a radial pattern surrounding the circumference of said catheter body.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention features a catheter system and a method for tissue ablation. A catheter body of extended length is constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being and for connection to a power source. An array of acoustic transducers are constructed for receiving power from the power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to power received from the power source. The acoustic energy generated by the acoustic transducers is sufficient for ablation of tissue. A mechanism independently controls one or more of the ablation transducers to produce a desired acoustic energy pattern for ablating tissue at a select location spaced from the catheter system. The acoustic transducers have an annular configuration designed for generating acoustic energy that radiates in a radial pattern surrounding the circumference of the catheter body.
933 Citations
76 Claims
-
1. A catheter system for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
a catheter body of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, an array of acoustic transducers disposed along the length of said catheter body and constructed for receiving power from said power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to said received power, sufficient for ablation of tissue, and a mechanism for controlling one or more of said ablation transducers independently of other ones of said transducers to produce a desired acoustic energy pattern for ablating tissue at a select location spaced from said catheter, at least one of said acoustic transducers having an annular configuration designed for generating acoustic energy that radiates in a radial pattern surrounding the circumference of said catheter body. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 62)
-
-
30. A catheter system for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
a catheter body of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, an acoustic ablation device constructed for receiving power from said power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to said received power, sufficient for ablation of tissue, a flexible sheath of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being and constructed to receive said catheter body, said sheath being at least partially sonolucent, a lumen within said catheter body, and a fluid port in communication with said lumen and said sheath, said fluid port being constructed to cause fluid to pass between said lumen and a space external to said catheter body and within said sheath, said lumen and said sheath being constructed to cause fluid to pass in a longitudinal direction relative to said catheter body and in the vicinity of said acoustic ablation device to cool said acoustic ablation device. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. A catheter system for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
a catheter body of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, an acoustic ablation device constructed for receiving power from said power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to said received power, sufficient for ablation of tissue, and a sonolucent standoff balloon for positioning said acoustic ablation device in proximity to tissue to be ablated, said acoustic ablation device being positioned to ablate said tissue by passage of acoustic energy through said balloon.
-
-
35. A catheter system for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
a catheter body of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, an acoustic ablation device constructed for receiving power from said power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to said received power, sufficient for ablation of tissue, and an acoustic energy redirection device positioned in the vicinity of said acoustic ablation device and constructed for redirecting a portion of acoustic energy produced by said acoustic ablation device in a direction of another portion of said acoustic energy produced by said acoustic ablation device toward tissue to be ablated. - View Dependent Claims (36)
-
-
37. A catheter system for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
a catheter body of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, a linear array of annular acoustic transducers disposed along the length of said catheter body and constructed for receiving power from said power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to said received power, sufficient for ablation of tissue, and a mechanism for selectively controlling one or more of said ablation transducers to produce a desired acoustic energy pattern for ablating tissue at a select location spaced from said catheter body, said mechanism including; a power applicator configured for providing power to one or more of said transducers, and a phase shifter configured for shifting the phase of said power provided to one or more of said transducers independently of other ones of said transducers. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. A method for selective acoustic ablation of tissue within the body of a living being, comprising
providing a catheter system for acoustic ablation of tissue, said catheter system comprising: -
a catheter body of extended length constructed for delivery to locations within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, an array of acoustic transducers disposed along the length of said catheter body and constructed for receiving power from said power source and for generating acoustic energy, in response to said received power, sufficient for ablation of tissue, and a mechanism for controlling one or more of said ablation transducers independently of other ones of said transducers to produce a desired acoustic energy pattern for ablating tissue at a select location spaced from said catheter body, at least one of said acoustic transducers having an annular configuration designed for generating acoustic energy that radiates in a radial pattern surrounding the circumference of said catheter body, threading said catheter body into said body of said living being such that the transducer array is located in proximity to tissue to be ablated, and controlling at least one of said ablation transducers to provide a desired energy pattern for ablation of tissue at a select location separated from said catheter body. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
-
-
63. A method for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
positioning a flexible sheath of extended length within a body of a living being, said sheath being at least partially sonolucent, inserting a catheter system having a catheter body of extended length within said sheath, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, providing power from said power source to an acoustic ablation device constructed for receiving power, generating acoustic energy with said acoustic ablation device, in response to said received power, said acoustic energy being sufficient for ablation of tissue, and passing fluid through a lumen within said catheter body and through a fluid port in communication with said lumen and said sheath, said fluid port being constructed to cause the fluid to pass between said lumen and a space external to said catheter body and within said sheath, and said lumen and said sheath being constructed to cause the fluid to pass in a longitudinal direction relative to said catheter body and in the vicinity of said acoustic ablation device to cool said acoustic ablation device. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66)
-
-
67. A method for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
positioning a catheter body of extended length within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, providing power to an acoustic ablation device constructed for receiving power from said power source, generating acoustic energy with said acoustic ablation device, in response to said received power, said acoustic energy being sufficient for ablation of tissue, placing a sonolucent standoff balloon within the body of the living being, inserting said catheter body within said balloon such that said acoustic ablation device is positioned in proximity to tissue to be ablated, and ablating said tissue by passage of acoustic energy through said balloon.
-
-
68. A method for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
positioning a catheter body of extended length within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, providing power to an acoustic ablation device constructed for receiving power from said power source, generating acoustic energy with said acoustic ablation device, in response to said received power, said acoustic energy being sufficient for ablation of tissue, and redirecting a portion of said acoustic energy in a direction of another portion of said acoustic energy toward tissue to be ablated, with an acoustic energy redirection device positioned in the vicinity of said acoustic ablation device. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70)
-
-
71. A method for tissue ablation, comprising:
-
positioning a catheter body of extended length within a body of a living being, said catheter body being adapted for connection to a power source, providing power to a linear array of annular acoustic transducers disposed along the length of said catheter body and constructed for receiving power from said power source, generating acoustic energy with said array of acoustic transducers, in response to said received power, said acoustic energy being sufficient for ablation of tissue, and ablating tissue at a select location spaced from said catheter body by selectively controlling one or more of said ablation transducers independently of others of said ablation transducers to produce a desired acoustic energy pattern, including providing said power to one or more of said transducers independently of other ones of said transducers, and shifting the phase of said power provided to one or more of said transducers independently of other ones of said transducers. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
-
Specification