Disclosed is a system for determining a location and configuration of an expandable member. A flexible coil can be provided on a shape changing portion, such as an expandable portion, to measure a signal as the shape changes.

Electrophysiology mapping and visualization systems are described herein where such devices may be used to visualize tissue regions as well as map the electrophysiological activity of the tissue. Such a system may include a deployment catheter and an attached hood deployable into an expanded configuration. In use, the imaging hood is placed against or adjacent to a region of tissue to be imaged in a body lumen that is normally filled with an opaque bodily fluid such as blood. A translucent or transparent fluid, such as saline, can be pumped into the imaging hood until the fluid displaces any blood, thereby leaving a clear region of tissue to be imaged via an imaging element in the deployment catheter. A position of the catheter and/or hood may be tracked and the hood may also be used to detect the electrophysiological activity of the visualized tissue for mapping.

Method for ascertaining and setting a filling volume of a balloon of a catheter, which is placed in the esophagus of a living being, wherein the balloon is filled and/or emptied using a fluid. According to the invention, the balloon is filled and/or emptied step-by-step using at least two volume steps, a pressure difference between a pressure at the end of an expiration (Pmin) and a pressure at the end of an inspiration (Pmax) is determined for at least two volume steps, a relative pressure difference between Pmin and Pmax is determined, a border range is defined on the basis of the relative pressure difference, and an optimum filling volume is ascertained in consideration of the border range.

The invention relates to an infusion catheter device. This catheter device 10 has an elongate, substantially tubular shape defining a longitudinal axis, a distal end (D) and a proximal end (P), configured to be introduced into a conduit (50) having an inner wall (54) and an outer wall (56) and comprising at least one partial or total obstruction (60) or occlusion to be treated, said device comprising, at its distal end (D), one or more infusion orifices (16, 18, 20, 22) for an infusion liquid (LI), and, upstream from the one or more infusion orifices, at the proximal side (P) of the infusion catheter (10), at least one obturating element (70) for temporary obturating, configured to treat said obstruction (60) or occlusion and to perform the infusion of the infusion liquid (LI) downstream from the obturating element (70) and in the obturating position. This device is suitable in particular for cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology.

The invention relates to a system for challenging the pericardial space, to provide an indication of the risk of cardiac tamponade in a patient, as well as methods for diagnosis of, and determination of the extent of, a tamponade, and treating a patient in whom there is a detected cardiac tamponade.

A probe navigation methods and devices for use in medical diagnoses and procedures are provided. A probe that is inserted in a walled area within a subject has a distal end on which at least first and second opposing transducers are mounted. The transducers track movement of the probe end with respect to the walls of the walled area. The distal end of the probe may closely approach a wall to enter an area such that the first transducer is no longer able to properly sense it, commonly referred to as a blanking region. Tracking information of the movement of the probe away from an opposing wall generated by the second transducer is then used to provide tracking of the distal end of the probe relative to the wall the first transducer is no longer able to sense.

Medical devices are provided, comprising a medical device and a sensor.

An in vivo potential measurement device includes an insulating member and an amplifier. The insulating member has an electrode. The insulating member is inserted into an organ of a living body such that an outer peripheral face of the insulating member contacts with an inner wall face of the organ at a contact site. The electrode senses electric potential at the contact site. The amplifier amplifies the electric potential to obtain output voltage. The amplifier has input capacitance Cin and input resistance Rin that satisfy Cin/Ce>0.1 and 1/(2πfCeRin)>0.1, where Ce represents capacitance of the insulating member at the contact site, and f represents frequency of the electric potential at the contact site on the inner wall face. A contact state between the outer peripheral face and the inner wall face is evaluated using the output voltage.

A tracking system for tracking a marker device for being attached to a medical device is provided, whereby the marker device includes a sensing unit comprising a magnetic object which may be excited by an external magnetic or electromagnetic excitation field into a mechanical oscillation of the magnetic object, and the tracking system comprises a field generator for generating a predetermined magnetic or electromagnetic excitation field for inducing mechanical oscillations of the magnetic object, a transducer for transducing a magnetic or electromagnetic field generated by the induced mechanical oscillations of the magnetic object into one or more electrical response signals, and a position determination unit for determining the position of the marker device on the basis of the one or more electrical response signals.

Systems and methods for partial aortic occlusion are provided. The system may include a catheter having an expandable aortic blood flow regulation device disposed on the distal end of the catheter for placement within an aorta of a patient, and a catheter controller unit that causes the device to expand and contract to restrict blood flow through the aorta. The system also may include sensors for measuring blood pressure distal and proximal to the expandable device. The system further may include non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor coupled to the sensors, cause the processor to estimate aortic blood flow based on the measured blood pressures and corresponding waveforms, compare the estimated aortic blood flow with a target aortic blood flow range, generate an alert if the estimated aortic blood flow falls outside the target aortic blood flow range, and cause the catheter controller unit to adjust expansion and contraction of the expandable device to adjust an amount of blood flow through the aorta if the estimated aortic blood flow falls outside the target aortic blood flow range.