Medical devices for mapping cardiac tissue

• US 9,730,603 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2015
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Inventors: Hultz, Paul, Laughner, Jacob I., Shome, Shibaji, Stalsberg, Kevin J., Thakur, Pramodsingh H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Stice, Paula J
• Application Number:
  US14/744,888
• Publication Number:
  US 20150366476A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 600512
• 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 2018/00357 Endocardium
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00577 Ablation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00839 Bioelectrical parameters, e.g. ECG, EEG
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/05 Surgical care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/287 Holders for multiple electrodes, e.g. electrode catheters for electrophysiological study [EPS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/316 Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/339 Displays specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/35 by template matching
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/361 Detecting fibrillation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/363 Detecting tachycardia or bradycardia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6858 with a distal basket, e.g. expandable basket
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots

Abstract

Medical devices and methods for making and using medical devices are disclosed. An example medical device may include a system for mapping the electrical activity of the heart. The system may include a catheter shaft with a plurality of electrodes. The system may also include a processor. The processor may be capable of collecting a set of signals from at least one of the plurality of electrodes. The set of signals may be collected over a time period. The processor may also be capable of calculating at least one propagation vector from the set of signals, generating a data set from the at least one propagation vector, generating a statistical distribution of the data set and generating a visual representation of the statistical distribution.

Claims

1. A system for mapping electrical activity of a heart, comprising:

a catheter comprising a distal end including a multiple electrode structure, the multiple electrode structure comprising a plurality of electrodes;

a processor electrically coupled to the plurality of electrodes, wherein the processor is configured to;

collect a set of signals from more than one of the plurality of electrodes, wherein more than one electrode of the plurality of electrodes collects the set of signals over a time period and includes signals from more than one heart cycle;

calculate at least one propagation vector from the set of signals, wherein the propagation vector includes a direction and magnitude and wherein the magnitude is correlated to a characteristic of propagation of the electrical activity of the heart;

generate a data set from the at least one propagation vector;

generate a statistical distribution of the data set, wherein the statistical distribution includes the signals collected by the more than one electrode from the more than one heart cycle; and

output to a display device a visual representation of the statistical distribution and the at least one propagation vector including the magnitude of the at least one propagation vector.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to generate the statistical distribution of the data set, the processor is configured to generate a histogram of the data set.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein to generate the histogram of the data set, the processor is configured to generate a circular histogram.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein to output to a display device the visual representation of the statistical distribution, the processor is configured to output to the display device at least one circular histogram.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein to perform the algorithmic computation of the data set, the processor is configured to determine at least one of the following:

standard deviation, entropy, kurtosis, skewness or the circular average of the data set.

6. The system of claim 1, the processor being further configured to perform an algorithmic computation of the data set.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein to perform the algorithmic computation of the data set, the processor is configured to generate a representative metric value for the data set.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein to generate the representative metric value, the processor is configured to generate a metric value for each of the plurality of electrodes across the time period.

9. The system of claim 8, the processor being further configured to output to a display device the representative metric values from each of the plurality of electrodes.

10. The system of claim 9, the processor being further configured to correlate one or more metric indicators to one or more representative metric values.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the metric indicators correspond to a discrete metric interval, wherein the discrete metric intervals are subdivisions of an overall metric interval.

12. The system of claim 10, the processor being further configured to create a grid of the metric indicators for each of the plurality of electrodes.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one propagation vector includes a propagation angle, wherein to calculate the propagation vector, the processor is configured to utilize an activation and wherein to generate a data set, the processor is configured to define the data set to include the vector angle for each of the set of signals from the more than one of the plurality of electrodes.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein to generate a visual representation of the statistical distribution, the processor is configured to output to a display device one or more of a histogram, a circular histogram, a two-dimensional grid, a three-dimensional model, a three-dimensional surface and a propagation vector.

15. A method for mapping electrical activity of a heart, the method comprising:

advancing a catheter to a target region within a cardiac chamber, the catheter comprising a distal end including a multiple electrode structure, the multiple electrode structure comprising a plurality of electrodes, wherein the plurality of electrodes are coupled to a processor;

collecting a set of signals from at least one of the plurality of electrodes, wherein more than one electrode of the plurality of electrodes collects the set of signals over a time period and includes signals from more than one heart cycle;

calculating at least one propagation vector from the set of signals, wherein the propagation vector includes a direction and magnitude and wherein the magnitude is correlated to a characteristics of propagation of the electrical activity of the heart;

generating a data set from the at least one propagation vector;

generating a statistical distribution of the data set, wherein the statistical distribution includes the signals collected by the more than one electrode from the more than one heart cycle; and

displaying a visual representation of the statistical distribution and the at least one propagation vector including the magnitude of the at least one propagation vector, wherein displaying a visual representation includes displaying one or more of a confidence level, a reliability level and a stability level.