Medical devices and methods for making and using medical devices are disclosed. An example electrophysiology medical device may include a catheter shaft including a distal end portion and a sensing assembly having three or more terminals. The sensing assembly includes one or more current-carrying electrodes and one or more sensing electrodes. The one or more current-carrying electrodes, the one or more sensing electrodes, or both includes a mini-electrode. The mini-electrode is disposed on one of the other electrodes. The medical device may also include a controller coupled to the sensing assembly.

Apparatus, systems, and methods of controlling energy delivered to electrodes used in electrically and/or thermally induced neuromodulation are provided to improve neuromodulation. In particular, a catheter treatment device having a control algorithm that regulates current or current density delivered to an electrode is provided. The electrode may maintain a known and consistent electrode contact surface area with the vessel. The control algorithm controls energy delivery to provide consistent current or current density to the treatment site, even though the tissue impedance Z may vary from patient to patient and vessel to vessel, and despite changes in impedance of the treatment, site during the course of the treatment. The controlled delivery of energy can be used to control and maintain placement of the zone of thermal treatment and reduce undesirable energy delivery to unwanted locations near the treatment site.

A method and apparatus that utilizes a force-time integral for real time estimation of steam pop in catheter-based ablation systems. The apparatus measures the force exerted by a contact ablation probe on a target tissue and an energization parameter delivered to the ablation probe. The exerted force and energization parameter can be utilized to provide an estimation of the probability of steam pop. In one embodiment, the force and energization metrics can be used as feedback to establish a desired contact force and energization level combination to prevent steam popping.

A treatment system comprises a power supply device and a treatment tool configured to communicate electrically with the power supply device so as to perform an operation on a treatment target. The treatment tool includes a sheath and an end effector configured to detachably attach to the sheath and being capable of bending with respect to the sheath. The end effector includes an electric element used to apply a treatment energy to the treatment target using an electric energy. The power supply device includes a processor. The processor sets to increase an output of the electric energy to be supplied to the electric element at in a second state. The sheath and the end effector are bent at a predetermined angle with respect to one another, compared with a first state where the sheath and the end effector are disposed straight in line with one another.

A method for controlling an operation of an ultrasonic blade of an ultrasonic electromechanical system is disclosed. The method includes providing an ultrasonic electromechanical system comprising an ultrasonic transducer coupled to an ultrasonic blade via an ultrasonic waveguide; applying, by an energy source, a power level to the ultrasonic transducer; determining, by a control circuit coupled to a memory, a mechanical property of the ultrasonic electromechanical system; comparing, by the control circuit, the mechanical property with a reference mechanical property stored in the memory; and adjusting, by the control circuit, the power level applied to the ultrasonic transducer based on the comparison of the mechanical property with the reference mechanical property.

A method for performing an electrosurgical procedure at a surgical site on a patient includes continually sensing electrical and physical properties proximate the surgical site that includes acquiring readings of tissue electrical impedance with respect to time at the surgical site; identifying the minima and maxima of the impedance readings with respect to time; and correlating the minima and/or the maxima of the impedance readings with hydration level and/or hydraulic conductivity in the tissue at the surgical site. The method also includes controlling the application of electrosurgical energy to the surgical site to vary energy delivery based on the step of correlating the minima and/or the maxima of the impedance readings with the hydration level/or and the hydraulic conductivity in the tissue at the surgical site. The process may be an ablation process.

Electrosurgical systems and methods are provided for RF nerve ablation, wherein a control console has multiple RF amplifiers associated with multiple channels, and multiple DC power supplies each dedicated to a corresponding one of the RF amplifiers. Each of a plurality of power supply relays are coupled between one of the DC power supplies and the dedicated corresponding one of the RF amplifiers. A controller is configured to apply switching signals to control each of the power supply relays to selectively switch on and off connections between the DC power supplies and the dedicated corresponding RF amplifiers. The controller may apply control signals to each RF amplifier sequentially, one at a time, to deliver energy separately and independently to each of the corresponding channels. The controller may be configured to apply the switching signals to self-grounding relays to selectively switch on and off connections between the channels and return relays.

A medical RF apparatus using an RF pulse and a method of controlling the medical RF apparatus are provided. The medical RF apparatus includes an RF generator, which generates a test pulse for detecting characteristics of tissue, a monitoring unit, which monitors the change in the information on the tissue state while the test pulse is transmitted to the tissue, and a measurement unit, which determines the tissue characteristics of a patient by comparing the values monitored in the monitoring unit with the reference data.

A catheter system for ablation of tissue around a blood vessel, e.g., the pulmonary artery, to reduce neural activity of nerves surrounding the blood vessel. The catheter system includes an elongate shaft having a proximal portion coupled to a handle, and a distal portion. The distal portion includes a transducer and an expandable anchor, which may be actuated to transition between a collapsed delivery state and an expanded deployed state where the anchor centralizes the transducer within the blood vessel. The transducer may be actuated to emit energy to reduce neural activity of the nerves surrounding the blood vessel. Systems and method are further provided for confirming that neural activity of the nerves surround the blood vessel has been sufficiently reduced.

Described herein is a catheter and method for catheter assembly. The flexible substrate includes a number of layers, where each layer has a number of printed wires. The printed substrate is environmentally protected. The printed substrate is rolled and inserted into the catheter. Connectors are attached to each end of the rolled substrate. The connectors are connected to sensors at a distal end of the catheter and with electrical cards or a cable connector at a proximate end of the catheter. At least one layer of the substrate is connected to a coil in a magnetic sensor. A layer in which the traces are shorted in the distal end is used to measure a magnetic interference. These measurements are used by a processor or hardware to cancel out the magnetic interference effect on the other layers. In an implementation, another printed substrate can be wrapped within the catheter shaft and used for non-magnetic type sensors.