Determining a material flow characteristic in a structure
First Claim
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1. A method of determining a flow of a material in a volume of a patient, comprising:
- moving an instrument having a position element into the volume;
evaluating an electrical property with the position element at a first time;
determining a first position of the position element within the volume based on the evaluated electrical property at the first time;
evaluating the electrical property with the position element at a second time later than the first time;
determining a second position of the position element within the volume based on the evaluated electrical property at the second time;
determining a change in position between the determined first position at the first time and the determined second position at the second time to determine a flow of material in the volume; and
displaying a graphical representation of the determined change in position between the determined first position and the determined second position to illustrate a direction of the flow of material.
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Abstract
An volume of a patient can be mapped with a system operable to identify a plurality of locations and save a plurality of locations of a mapping instrument. The mapping instrument can include one or more electrodes that can sense a voltage that can be correlated to a three dimensional location of the electrode at the time of the sensing or measurement. Therefore, a map of a volume can be determined based upon the sensing of the plurality of points without the use of other imaging devices. An implantable medical device can then be navigated relative to the mapping data.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of determining a flow of a material in a volume of a patient, comprising:
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moving an instrument having a position element into the volume; evaluating an electrical property with the position element at a first time; determining a first position of the position element within the volume based on the evaluated electrical property at the first time; evaluating the electrical property with the position element at a second time later than the first time; determining a second position of the position element within the volume based on the evaluated electrical property at the second time; determining a change in position between the determined first position at the first time and the determined second position at the second time to determine a flow of material in the volume; and displaying a graphical representation of the determined change in position between the determined first position and the determined second position to illustrate a direction of the flow of material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of determining a flow of a material in a volume of a patient, comprising:
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providing an instrument having a position element on an exterior of a first portion of the instrument arranged to be moved into the volume; moving the first portion of the instrument into the volume and placing the position element in contact with a flowing conductive medium in the volume; fixing a second portion of the instrument relative to the first portion; providing three sets of axis generation electrodes on an exterior surface of the volume, each set of electrodes spaced apart and arranged to establish an axis via a conductive path therebetween, each axis of the three sets of electrodes being substantially orthogonal to each other and intersecting at a common point; injecting a current into the volume between each set of electrodes and generating a voltage gradient in the volume between each set of electrodes; sensing a first voltage at the position element between each set of the three sets of electrodes at a first time; determining a first position of the position element based on the sensed first voltage along the voltage gradients of each of the three sets of electrodes so as to provide a determined three dimensional first position of the position element at the first time; sensing a second voltage at the position element between each set of the three sets of electrodes at a second time later than the first time; determining a second position of the position element based on the sensed second voltage along the voltage gradients of each of the three sets of electrodes so as to provide a determined three dimensional second position of the position element at the second time; determining a change in position between the determined first and second positions of the position element; and displaying a graphical representation of the determined change in position between the first and second determined positions that indicates a direction of flow of the conductive medium in the volume from the first to the second determined position. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for determining a flow of material in a volume of a heart of a patient, comprising:
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an instrument having a position element and a selectively inflatable member each positioned on a portion of the instrument arranged to be moved into the volume so as to place the inflatable member and the position element in contact with a flowing conductive medium in the volume; a position sensing unit having at least one set of axis generation electrodes to inject a current into the volume, the at least one set of electrodes adapted to be positioned on an outer surface of the volume to establish an axis via a conductive path therebetween, the injected current generating a voltage gradient in the volume between the at least one set of electrodes; a display device; and a processor coupled to the position element, the position sensing unit and the display device; wherein the position element is arranged to sense a first voltage and a second voltage along the voltage gradient between the at least one set of electrodes and communicate the sensed first and second voltages to the processor, the processor is arranged to determine respective first and second positions of the position element based on the first and second sensed voltages along the voltage gradient and to determine a change in position of the position element between the determined first and second positions to determine a flow of material in the volume; wherein the display device is arranged to display a graphical representation of the flow of material in the volume between the determined first and second positions. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification