An apparatus includes a shaft, a balloon, a tip member, and a heating feature. The tip member is distal to the balloon and has a larger outer diameter than the shaft. The heating feature is operable to ablate tissue of the Eustachian tube contacting the balloon in the expanded state. The heating feature may include an illuminating element and a photosensitive coating on the balloon. Alternatively, the heating feature may include a thermal heating element that heats the balloon inflation fluid and thereby heats the wall of the balloon. Another apparatus includes a shaft, a tip member, and an electrode assembly. The electrode assembly includes a plurality of electrodes positioned along the shaft near the distal end, proximal to the tip member. The electrodes are spaced apart from each other along a longitudinal axis and are operable to apply RF energy to tissue to thereby ablate the tissue.

An end effector assembly adapted to couple to an electrosurgical instrument, the end effector assembly including a plurality of spaced apart small seal plates on opposing jaw members where each seal plate forms a pair of seal plates with the corresponding seal plate on the opposing jaw member. Each pair of seal plates is individually activatable, and the pair of seal plates are activated in sequence. When the opposing jaw members are in an approximated position, the pairs of seal plates around the periphery of each jaw member define a gap therebetween that is larger than the gap between pairs of seal plates along the center of each jaw member.

A system and method for treating the skin by heating at least one discrete skin volume, comprising at least one treatment tip reversibly connectable to at least one applicator. The treatment tip comprises one or more electrodes, with the electrodes having one or more spaced apart protruding conducting elements. The protruding conducting elements are characterized by dimensions of height A and hypotenuse B, where the ratio A/B is in a predetermined range, and the protruding conducting elements penetrate the skin surface at discrete locations. The electrodes are configured to apply energy to skin volumes around the discrete locations so as to heat the skin volumes. The applicator comprises an energy generator configured to apply energy to the skin volumes by means of the electrodes and the spaced apart protruding conducting elements.

A system for delivering energy to a patient's body includes a plurality of probes for delivering at least one of electrical or radiofrequency energy to the patient's body and a controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of probes and configured to present a display including a collapsible control panel that overlays a plurality of independent control panels each indicating one or more real-time operating parameters associated with the plurality of probes. The collapsible control panel includes a first graphical element for starting a treatment procedure for all of the plurality of probes simultaneously and a second graphical element that, when selected by the user, causes the display to dynamically update by closing the collapsible control panel to present third graphical elements in each of the plurality of independent control panels, the third graphical elements configured to start an individual treatment procedure for an associated one of the plurality of probes.

A system and method for treating the skin by heating at least one discrete skin volume, comprising at least one treatment tip reversibly connectable to at least one applicator. The treatment tip comprises one or more electrodes, with the electrodes having one or more spaced apart protruding conducting elements. The protruding conducting elements are characterized by dimensions of height A and hypotenuse B, where the ratio A/B is in a predetermined range, and the protruding conducting elements penetrate the skin surface at discrete locations. The electrodes are configured to apply energy to skin volumes around the discrete locations so as to heat the skin volumes. The applicator comprises an energy generator configured to apply energy to the skin volumes by means of the electrodes and the spaced apart protruding conducting elements.

An electrosurgical system includes a radiofrequency (RF) generator having a controller configured to detect an occurrence of a vaporization point of target tissue and a vaporization duration between commencement of delivery of the RF energy and the occurrence of the vaporization point. The controller can apply the vaporization duration to adjust a parameter during subsequent electrode activation, such as RF power level, an electrode activation sequence, a distance between activated electrodes, and a number of activated electrodes. The controller can apply the vaporization duration to determine if whether a predetermined depth of effect has been reached for use in subsequent parameter adjustments.

An electrosurgical wand is disclosed for treating a plurality of tissues at a variety of tissue locations. The electrosurgical wand includes a handle on a proximal end and an elongate shaft with a combination active electrode at the distal end. The combination active electrode includes with a blade and screen portion; the blade portion extending along and laterally from the wand longitudinal axis, forming a dissecting tip. The screen portion extends from the blade portion at an obtuse angle and has at least one aspiration aperture through it. The wand also includes a second and third electrode, proximally spaced from the combination active electrode. The second electrode spans a portion of an outside surface of the wand adjacent the blade portion, while the third electrode spans a portion of the outside surface of the wand opposite the second electrode.

A medical device including a catheter having a proximal portion and a distal portion. A plurality of electrodes is disposed along the distal portion, the plurality of electrodes including a first electrode pair having a first fixed polarity and a second electrode pair having a second fixed polarity different than the first fixed polarity. A first lumen extends through the distal portion, the first lumen includes a first conductor configured to connect to a first electrode of the first electrode pair and a second conductor configured to connect to a second electrode of the first electrode pair. A second lumen extends through the distal portion and separated from the first lumen, the second lumen includes a third conductor configured to connect to a first electrode of the second electrode pair and a fourth conductor configured to connect to a second electrode of the second electrode pair.

The present invention relates to an ablation assembly (100) to treat target regions of a tissue (41) in organs (44) comprising: an ablation catheter (1) comprising an elongate shaft (13) having a longitudinal main direction (X-X), said elongate shaft (13) comprising at least a shaft distal portion (17), said shaft distal portion (17) comprising a shaft distal portion distal end (19);
said ablation catheter (1) comprising an inner lumen (118) arranged within the elongate shaft (13);
said ablation catheter (1) comprising a shaft ablation assembly (20) fixedly disposed at said shaft distal portion (17), the shaft ablation assembly (20) being configured to deliver both thermal energy for ablating said tissue (41) and non-thermal energy for treating said tissue (41); at least a shape setting mandrel (26) disposed within the ablation catheter (1), the shape setting mandrel (26) being insertable within the inner lumen (118) and removable from the inner lumen (118),
wherein the shape setting mandrel (26) is free to move in respect of the inner lumen (118) avoiding any constraint with said shaft distal portion (17) during the shape setting mandrel insertion,
wherein the shape setting mandrel (26) comprises at least a pre-shaped configuration and the shape setting mandrel (26) is reversibly deformable between at least a straight loaded configuration and said pre-shaped configuration,
wherein, when the shape setting mandrel (26) is fully inserted in the shaft distal portion (17), the shape setting mandrel (26) is configured to shape set said shaft distal portion (17) with said pre-shaped configuration.

In one embodiment, a method to find tissue proximity indications includes inserting a catheter into a body part of a living subject such that electrodes of the catheter contact tissue at respective locations within the body part, receiving signals provided by the electrodes, selectively rewarding and penalizing a reinforcement learning agent over reinforcement learning exploration phases to learn at least one tissue proximity policy responsively to at least one of the received signals, applying the reinforcement learning agent in reinforcement learning exploitation phases to find respective tissue-proximity actions to be taken that maximize respective expected rewards responsively to the at least one tissue proximity policy, and providing respective derived tissue-proximity indications of proximity of a given one of the electrodes with the tissue responsively to the found respective tissue-proximity actions.