Apparatus, systems, and methods provide access to the renal pelvis of a kidney to treat renal nerves embedded in tissue surrounding the renal pelvis. Access to the renal pelvis may be via the urinary tract or via minimally invasive incisions through the abdomen and kidney tissue. Treatment is effected by exchanging energy, typically delivering heat or extracting heat through a wall of the renal pelvis, or by delivering active substances.

Provided is a flex-PCB catheter device that is configured to be inserted into a body lumen. The flex-PCB catheter comprises an elongate shaft, an expandable assembly, a flexible printed circuit board (flex-PCB) substrate, a plurality of electronic components and a plurality of communication paths. The elongate shaft comprises a proximal end and a distal end. The expandable assembly is configured to transition from a radially compact state to a radially expanded state. The plurality of electronic elements are coupled to the flex-PCB substrate and are configured to receive and/or transmit an electric signal. The plurality of communication paths are positioned on and/or within the flex-PCB substrate. The communication paths selectively couple the plurality of electronic elements to a plurality of electrical contacts configured to electrically connect to an electronic module configured to process the electrical signal. The flex-PCB substrate can have multiple layers, including one or more metallic layers. Acoustic matching elements and conductive traces can be includes in the flex-PCB substrate.

A medical device capable of preventing a circumferential twist and bending of an expansion body expandable in a radial direction and a method for manufacturing an expansion body to be used in the medical device. The medical device includes an outer tube, an expansion body expandable in a radial direction, and a pulling shaft protruding from a distal portion of the outer tube, connected to a distal portion of the expansion body, and slidable with respect to the outer tube. The expansion body includes main struts and sub-struts. Each of the main struts is substantially parallel to an axis when viewed from a radially outer side. Each of the sub-struts includes at least two joint portions joined respectively to two circumferentially adjacent main struts, and at least two of the joint portions are disposed at different positions in an axial direction of the outer tube.

A catheter includes a shaft for insertion into an organ of a patient, an expandable distal-end assembly, and at least an electrical interconnection. The expandable distal-end assembly is coupled to the shaft and includes multiple splines, at least one of the splines includes a flexible substrate, which is configured to conform to tissue of the organ. The electrical interconnection has: (i) a first section, which is formed within the flexible substrate and is configured to conduct ablation signals, and (ii) a second section thicker than the first section, which is formed over an outer surface of the flexible substrate and is configured to apply the ablation signals to the tissue.

An intraluminal microneurography probe has a probe body configured to be introduced into an artery near an organ of a body without preventing the flow of blood through the artery. An expandable sense electrode and an expandable stimulation electrode are fixed to the probe body at one end of each electrode such that movement of the other end toward the fixed end causes the sense electrode to expand from the probe body toward a wall of the artery. A ground electrode is configured to couple to the body, and a plurality of electrical connections are operable to electrically couple the electrodes to electrical circuitry. The sense electrode is operable to measure sympathetic nerve activity in response to excitation of the stimulation electrode. A radio frequency ablation element is located between the expandable sense electrode and expandable stimulation electrode, and is operable to ablate nerves proximate to the artery.

Apparatus, including a catheter configured to be inserted into an organ of a human body. A plurality of electrodes are deployed on the catheter, the electrodes being configured to transfer radiofrequency (RF) ablation energy to tissue of the organ. The apparatus also includes a power supply configured to supply the RF ablation energy at a level of up to 100 W to each of the plurality of electrodes simultaneously, so as to ablate respective sections of the tissue of the organ in contact with the electrodes.

Methods for treating hypertension and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. One aspect of the present technology, for example, is directed to methods for therapeutic renal neuromodulation that partially inhibit sympathetic neural activity in renal nerves proximate a renal blood vessel of a human patient having a 24-hour heart rate at or above a median heart rate for a population of hypertensive patients. This reduction in sympathetic neural activity is expected to therapeutically treat one or more conditions associated with hypertension of the patient. Renal sympathetic nerve activity can be modulated, for example, using an intravascularly positioned catheter carrying a neuromodulation assembly, e.g., a neuromodulation assembly configured to use electrically-induced, thermally-induced, and/or chemically-induced approaches to modulate the renal nerves.

A medical device includes an expansion body, an elongated shaft portion, and a plurality of electrode assemblies. The expansion body includes a recessed portion that is recessed radially inward. The recessed portion includes a radially innermost bottom portion including a proximal side curved portion and a distal side curved portion, a proximal side upright portion, and a distal side upright portion. Each of the plurality of electrode assemblies includes an electrode portion disposed along the expansion body from the proximal side upright portion or the distal side upright portion to the bottom portion so as to face a receiving space defined by the recessed portion. The proximal side curved portion and the distal side curved portion deform in response to expansion and contraction of the expansion body. The electrode portion is in a floating state with respect to the distal side curved portion and the proximal side curved portion.

In one embodiment, a medical system includes a catheter configured to be inserted into a body part of a living subject, and including a deflectable element having a distal end, an expandable distal end assembly disposed at the distal end of the deflectable element, and comprising a plurality of electrodes, a distal portion, and a proximal portion, and configured to expand from a collapsed form to an expanded deployed form, and a stretchable irrigation tube disposed between the distal portion and the proximal portion, and comprising a plurality of irrigation holes, and configured to stretch longitudinally when the distal end assembly is collapsed from the expanded deployed form to the collapsed form.

An ablation device and method for pulsed field ablation, the device comprising a catheter including an expandable basket, a set of electrodes formed on the expandable basket, and a pulse generator suitable for generating electric pulses wherein the pulse generator being in electrical connection with the set of electrodes. The expandable basket is formed of a braided mesh of filaments, wherein the filaments are made of nonconductive material, wherein at least portion of the filaments comprises a lumen, or is made by molding, wherein the filaments further include electrodes and conductive wires. The conductive wires at least partially lead inside of the lumen of the filaments, or are overmolded and are electrically connected to the electrodes.