Methods of using high intensity focused ultrasound to form an ablated tissue area containing a plurality of lesions
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for trans-esophageal ablation of cardiac tissue in a patient comprising:
- providing a trans-esophageal ablation device comprising a flexible, elongate portion adapted to be guided within an esophagus of said patient, a source of energy, and a two-dimensional array of transducer elements configured to deliver high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to a focus zone within said patient, the focus zone being at a predetermined distance from the trans-esophageal ablation device;
inserting said trans-esophageal ablation device into an esophagus of said patient;
positioning said two-dimensional array of transducer elements of said trans-esophageal ablation device proximate esophagus tissue at the predetermined distance from said cardiac tissue of said patient;
focusing said focus zone of said two-dimensional array of transducer elements on said cardiac tissue of said patient; and
delivering high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to said cardiac tissue of said patient to form a lesion at said cardiac tissue within said focus zone without forming a lesion in patient esophagus tissue proximate said trans-esophageal ablation device;
wherein said two-dimensional array of transducer elements have a taper wherein transducer elements positioned more centrally in said two-dimensional array of transducer elements are larger than transducer elements positioned more peripherally in said two-dimensional array of transducer elements, and further wherein the step of delivering high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to said cardiac tissue includes operating said two-dimensional array of transducer elements to focus said high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy from said two-dimensional array of transducer elements to said focus zone within said patient.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device and method for ablating tissue is disclosed comprising the steps of acquiring an anatomical image of a patient, correlating the image to the patient, guiding an ablating member within the patient while tracking the position of the ablating member in the patient, positioning the ablating member in a desired position to ablate tissue, emitting ablating energy from the ablating member to form an ablated tissue area and removing the ablating member from the patient.
423 Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A method for trans-esophageal ablation of cardiac tissue in a patient comprising:
-
providing a trans-esophageal ablation device comprising a flexible, elongate portion adapted to be guided within an esophagus of said patient, a source of energy, and a two-dimensional array of transducer elements configured to deliver high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to a focus zone within said patient, the focus zone being at a predetermined distance from the trans-esophageal ablation device; inserting said trans-esophageal ablation device into an esophagus of said patient; positioning said two-dimensional array of transducer elements of said trans-esophageal ablation device proximate esophagus tissue at the predetermined distance from said cardiac tissue of said patient; focusing said focus zone of said two-dimensional array of transducer elements on said cardiac tissue of said patient; and delivering high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to said cardiac tissue of said patient to form a lesion at said cardiac tissue within said focus zone without forming a lesion in patient esophagus tissue proximate said trans-esophageal ablation device;
wherein said two-dimensional array of transducer elements have a taper wherein transducer elements positioned more centrally in said two-dimensional array of transducer elements are larger than transducer elements positioned more peripherally in said two-dimensional array of transducer elements, and further wherein the step of delivering high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to said cardiac tissue includes operating said two-dimensional array of transducer elements to focus said high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy from said two-dimensional array of transducer elements to said focus zone within said patient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for trans-esophageal ablation of cardiac tissue in a patient comprising:
-
providing an ablation device configured to ablate cardiac tissue from within an esophagus of the patient, the ablation device configured to deliver high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy to a focus zone at a predetermined distance from an array of transducer elements;
wherein the array of transducer elements have a taper wherein individual transducer elements positioned more centrally in the array are larger than individual transducer elements positioned more peripherally in the array;inserting the ablation device into the esophagus; positioning the array of transducer elements proximate esophagus tissue at the predetermined distance from cardiac tissue; focusing the focus zone on cardiac tissue to be ablated; and delivering high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy through the wall of the esophagus to ablate cardiac tissue within the focus zone without ablating esophagus tissue proximate the array of transducer elements. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
Specification