Methods for therapeutic renal neuromodulation
First Claim
1. A method for intravascularly-induced renal neuromodulation, the method comprising:
- intravascularly delivering a catheter comprising a shaft and an electrode disposed along the shaft, wherein delivering the catheter includes positioning the electrode at a treatment site within a renal blood vessel of a hypertensive human patient,wherein, when positioned at the treatment site, the electrode is held spaced apart from a wall of the renal blood vessel; and
delivering an electric field via the electrode to induce renal neuromodulation,wherein inducing renal neuromodulation results in a therapeutically beneficial reduction in blood pressure of the patient.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for treating hypertension, e.g., via a pulsed electric field, via a stimulation electric field, via localized drug delivery, via high frequency ultrasound, via thermal techniques, etc. Such neuromodulation may effectuate irreversible electroporation or electrofusion, necrosis and/or inducement of apoptosis, alteration of gene expression, action potential attenuation or blockade, changes in cytokine up-regulation and other conditions in target neural fibers. In some embodiments, neuromodulation is applied to neural fibers that contribute to renal function. In some embodiments, such neuromodulation is performed in a bilateral fashion. Bilateral renal neuromodulation may provide enhanced therapeutic effect in some patients as compared to renal neuromodulation performed unilaterally, i.e., as compared to renal neuromodulation performed on neural tissue innervating a single kidney.
581 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for intravascularly-induced renal neuromodulation, the method comprising:
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intravascularly delivering a catheter comprising a shaft and an electrode disposed along the shaft, wherein delivering the catheter includes positioning the electrode at a treatment site within a renal blood vessel of a hypertensive human patient, wherein, when positioned at the treatment site, the electrode is held spaced apart from a wall of the renal blood vessel; and delivering an electric field via the electrode to induce renal neuromodulation, wherein inducing renal neuromodulation results in a therapeutically beneficial reduction in blood pressure of the patient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for catheter-based renal denervation of a hypertensive human patient, the method comprising:
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transluminally positioning a renal denervation catheter within a renal artery of the patient and adjacent to renal nerves of the patient, wherein the catheter includes an expandable element and a pair of electrodes disposed along a shaft of the catheter and external of the expandable element; inflating the expandable element within the renal artery of the patient such that the pair of electrodes are centered within the renal blood vessel; and after inflating the expandable element, at least partially ablating the renal nerves of the patient via energy delivery from the pair of electrodes, wherein at least partially ablating the renal nerves results in a therapeutically beneficial reduction in blood pressure of the patient. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification