A catheter includes an insertion tube, a flexible substrate and one or more electrical devices. The insertion tube is configured for insertion into a patient body. The flexible substrate is configured to wrap around a distal end of the insertion tube and includes electrical interconnections. The electrical devices are coupled to the flexible substrate and are connected to the electrical interconnections.

An ablation instrument comprises an elongate shaft having a cannula channel and a scope channel, and an electrode disposed in the cannula channel. The electrode is slidable between a first position in which a distal end of the electrode is contained within the cannula channel, and a second position in which the distal end of the electrode extends out of a distal opening of the cannula channel. The ablation instrument further comprises a distal head coupled to the elongate shaft and configured for contacting solid tissue.

Ablation systems and methods of the present disclosure include a catheter including one or more image sensors. The one or more image sensors can facilitate, for example, positioning an ablation electrode at a treatment site of an anatomic structure and, additionally or alternatively, can facilitate controlling delivery of therapeutic energy to a treatment site of an anatomic structure.

An image analysis device is capable of outputting evaluation information for use in the balloon catheter treatment for subjects, in real time during a procedure using a balloon catheter. The image analysis device includes: an input unit configured to input captured image data of a two-dimensional captured image of a balloon catheter inserted into an organ of the subject and pressed against an inner surface of the organ; a processing unit configured to obtain evaluation image data of the two-dimensional evaluation image, by executing an image processing on the captured image based on the captured image data input by the input unit, and configured to obtain evaluation information regarding a state of the balloon catheter pressed against the inner surface of the organ based on the evaluation image data; and an output unit configured to output the evaluation information acquired by the processing unit.

The present invention provides a detection mechanism, a radio-frequency ablation catheter, and a radio-frequency ablation system. The radio-frequency ablation catheter comprises a handle portion (2), a needle tube portion (1), a central electrode (3), and a detection mechanism. The needle tube portion (1) comprises a first tube sleeve (11) and a second tube sleeve (12), the handle portion (2) comprises a cylinder sleeve (21) and a sliding button (22), the central electrode (3) comprises an electrode body (31), an electrode wire (26), and an electrode connector (23), and the detection mechanism comprises a fixing base (5), a traction wire, a connecting base (6), and multiple claw-shaped electrodes (7). A distal end of the traction wire is fixed on the fixing base (5), and a proximal end of the traction wire is fixed on the sliding button (22); and the claw-shaped electrodes (7) are fixed on the fixing base (5), and slidably provided in the connecting base (6). The traction wire is pulled by the sliding button (22) to drive the fixing base (5) to push the claw-shaped electrodes (7) in or out of the connecting base (6). This facilitates the control of the claw-shaped electrodes (7) by a user during surgery, the determination of the temperature or impedance of the claw-shaped electrodes (7), and thus the determination of the progress of ablation.

An apparatus includes a flexible electrically-insulating substrate including an inner surface and an outer surface. The substrate is shaped to define multiple channels passing between the inner surface and the outer surface, at least some of the channels being concave channels. The apparatus further includes an outer layer of an electrically-conducting metal covering at least part of the outer surface, an inner layer of the electrically-conducting metal covering at least part of the inner surface, and respective columns of the electrically-conducting metal that fill the channels such as to connect the outer layer to the inner layer.

According to some embodiments, a medical instrument (for example, an ablation device) comprises an elongate body having a proximal end and a distal end, an energy delivery member positioned at the distal end of the elongate body, a first plurality of temperature-measurement devices carried by or positioned within the energy delivery member, the first plurality of temperature-measurement devices being thermally insulated from the energy delivery member, and a second plurality of temperature-measurement devices positioned proximal to a proximal end of the energy delivery member, the second plurality of temperature-measurement devices being thermally insulated from the energy delivery member.

A device for ablating target tissue of a patient with electrical energy is provided. An elongate shaft includes a proximal portion and a distal portion, and a radially expandable element is attached to the distal portion. An ablation element for delivering electrical energy to target tissue is mounted to the radially expandable element. The device can be constructed and arranged to ablate the duodenal mucosa of a patient while avoiding damage to the duodenal adventitial tissue. Systems and methods of treating target tissue are also provided.

An ablation catheter including an elongate shaft, an inflatable balloon positioned at a distal region of the elongate shaft, a first ablation electrode disposed outside of and carried by an outer surface of the inflatable balloon, a first ultrasound transducer disposed outside of the inflatable balloon, and a flexible circuit. The flexible circuit includes a first conductor and a second conductor and is disposed outside of and carried by the outer surface of the inflatable balloon. The first conductor is in electrical communication with the first ablation electrode, and the second conductor in electrical communication with the first ultrasound transducer.

A surgical end effector has a first jaw comprising a first electrode and a second jaw, wherein at least one of the first jaw and the second jaw is movable relative to the other one of the first jaw and the second jaw to transition the end effector between an open configuration, an approximated configuration, and a fully approximated configuration. The second jaw includes a second electrode and a spacer extending from the second electrode, wherein the spacer is configured to maintain a predetermined distance between the first electrode and the second electrode when the end effector is in the fully approximated configuration, wherein the spacer is in contact with the first electrode in the fully approximated configuration, wherein the spacer is spaced apart from the first electrode in the open configuration, and wherein the spacer is comprised of a semi-conductive material.