Ablation systems and methods of the present disclosure are directed toward delivering pulsed radiofrequency (RF) energy to target tissue. The pulsations of the RF energy, combined with cooling at a surface of the target tissue, can advantageously promote local heat transfer in the target tissue to form lesions having dimensions larger than those that can be safely formed in tissue using non-pulsed RF energy under similar conditions.

Ablation systems and methods of the present disclosure control lesion depth and width such that, for example, wide and shallow lesions can be formed in target tissue in an anatomic structure of a patient during a medical procedure. Such wide and shallow lesions can be useful for treating, for example, thin tissue such as atrial tissue in atria of the heart of the patient.

A catheter includes a shaft having a first lumen inside thereof, an expansion/contraction portion that is disposed on a distal end portion of the shaft and is expandable and contractible in a radial direction, and an actuation portion that expands and contracts the expansion/contraction portion. The expansion/contraction portion has a fixed portion fixed to the shaft, a sliding portion capable of sliding in a longitudinal direction of the shaft on an outer peripheral face of the shaft, and a suspension portion extending in the longitudinal direction of the shaft that connects the fixed portion with the sliding portion. When the sliding portion is slid toward the fixed portion by the actuation portion, the suspension portion expands in a radial direction of the shaft.

A catheter comprises a shaft, an extended shaft portion, and an electrode disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the shaft. The shaft has a first lumen and a second lumen that is arranged adjacent to the first lumen. The extended shaft portion is provided on a distal end portion of the shaft, has the first lumen, and has a distal end portion located on a distal end side of a distal end portion of the second lumen, in the shaft.

Devices, systems, and methods are disclosed that help deliver catheters or other medical devices to locations within a patient's body. The device includes a transporter catheter having a proximal end and a distal end, at least a first balloon located at the distal end, substantially at a tip of the transporter catheter, and at least a second balloon located between the distal end and the proximal end of the transporter catheter. The first balloon is an orienting balloon and the second balloon is an anchor balloon. The transporter catheter may include a single lumen or more than one lumen. The transporter catheter may have a shaft including an inner layer and an outer layer, the inner layer may be made of a material more flexible than the material of the outer layer. The outer layer may also include a braided wire assembly, said braided wire assembly being formed by braiding a plurality of flat wires or circular wires. The braided wire assembly may wrap around the inner layer. The transporter catheter may have a shaft that may include a plurality of segments of varying degrees of hardness. The degree of hardness of the segment of the shaft of the transporter catheter located between the first balloon and the second balloon may be less than the degree of hardness of the segment of the shaft between the second balloon and the proximal end of the catheter.

A method for infusing a liquid into a patient's vasculature in accordance with an infusion protocol is disclosed. For this method, an infusion catheter having a multi-lumen infusion unit that is mounted adjacent the catheter's distal end is positioned in an artery within a predetermined distance from an intended target tissue surface. An inflation balloon is then deployed to at least partially occlude the artery and a force is exerted on the liquid to establish a flow rate for the liquid in the catheter. Specifically, the force is exerted to infuse the liquid from the catheter through the infusion unit and into the vasculature with a homogeneous distribution of the liquid to cover the intended surface of the target tissue. The flow rate can be established in accordance with an infusion protocol that is characterized by time and liquid volume parameters based on viscosity and pressure values in the liquid.

A catheter for insertion into a body of a patient, and methods of making and using. The catheter can include a distal portion that remains stable during fluid infusion into the patient, thus reducing or eliminating whipping of the catheter distal tip. The catheter includes at least one lumen and can be configured such that the arithmetic product of an elastic modulus and an area moment of inertia for the distal portion of the catheter is greater than the arithmetic product of an elastic modulus and an area moment of inertia for a proximal portion. The catheter can be attached to an implantable access port that may include features for use as a power injectable access port.

In the present disclosure, embodiments of dual-stage syringes are disclosed along with delivery systems incorporating the dual-stage syringes. Embodiments of the dual-stage syringes described herein include sleeved dual-stage syringes, turn-key dual-stage syringes and dual-stage syringes including one or more one-way valves.

In the present disclosure, embodiments of microbead containment systems and containment methods are disclosed. The microbead containment system may include a microsphere container, which includes walls that define a containment space in the microsphere container, and microspheres within the containment space. The walls may include at least one magnetic component configured to produce a magnetic field within the containment space. The microspheres may include a diamagnetic material. The method of containing radioactive microspheres may include loading a plurality of microspheres comprising a diamagnetic material in a container comprising one or more magnetic components. The microspheres contained in the microsphere container interact with the magnetic field in a manner that prevents direct contact of the microspheres and the microsphere container.

In the present disclosure, embodiments of flaring tip microcatheters, methods of deploying flaring tip microcatheters, and embolization treatment methods are disclosed. The flaring tip microcatheter may include a hollow shaft having a shaft lumen defined therein, a core disposed within the shaft lumen, and a tip comprising at least two petals affixed to a distal end of the core, the at least two petals comprising at least two wires wherein the core is hollow and defines a core lumen. The at least two wires may be configured to pull the at least two petals to form a flared configuration of the tip. The flared configuration of the tip may allow for laminar flow of a therapeutic agent distally from the tip.