An expandable electrode assembly for use in a cardiac mapping procedure includes multiple bipolar electrode pairs including a first electrode located on an outer surface and a second electrode located on an inner surface of the individual splines forming the expandable electrode assembly. Such an electrode arrangement may produce improved electrical activation signals which may be used to produce a more accurate map of the electrical activity of a patient's heart.

A method and system for automatic location of a target treatment structure, such as a pulmonary vein ostium, from an anatomical image. The method includes calculating a most likely path of blood flow through a pulmonary vein based on a cross-sectional area minimization technique and calculating pulmonary vein geometry as a function of length. For example, a pulmonary vein ostium may be located by analyzing a change in pulmonary vein dimensional size or other anatomical factors, such as absolute size. The method may also include determining tissue thickness at the pulmonary vein ostium or other treatment size for treatment dose optimization. The method may be an algorithm performed by a processing unit of a navigation system or other component of a medical system.

A pair of new catheters designed to be deployed as a catheter system to allow a simultaneous acquisition of electrograms from widely dispersed electrodes in the left atrium, right atrium, and coronary sinus. The first catheter is the spiral globe catheter which has the primary shape of a spiral globe and has additional modifications to facilitate safe entry into the left atrium, to orient the primary axis of the spiral globe toward the mitral valve, and to maximize contact of electrodes to multiple areas of the left atrium. The second catheter is the right atrial and coronary sinus catheter (RA-CS catheter) which allows for electrogram acquisition from the length of the coronary sinus and dispersed areas of the right atrium. The catheter system is designed to provide adequate electrode sensor information so that panoramic mapping of the both atria and the coronary sinus may be performed.

An electrode loop assembly for a catheter includes a form wire shaped as a loop, an activation wire coupled to the form wire, and a support tube defining a lumen and enclosing the form wire and the activation wire therein. The activation wire is operable to selectively vary a diameter of the loop, and is routed along a radial inner side of the form wire. The support tube extends along a longitudinal axis from a proximal end to a distal end, and has an oblong cross-section having a major axis. The support tube is twisted about the longitudinal axis such that an orientation of the major axis changes along a length of the support tube.

Endovascular nerve monitoring devices and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. A nerve monitoring system configured in accordance with a particular embodiment of the present technology can include a shaft having a proximal portion and a distal portion and a nerve monitoring assembly at the distal portion. The shaft is configured to locate the distal portion intravascularly at a treatment site. The nerve monitoring assembly can include a bipolar stimulation electrode array and a bipolar recording electrode array disposed distal to the bipolar stimulation electrode assembly.

A catheter with an electrode assembly has a functional electrode located at a first position on the electrode assembly and a shunting electrode located proximal to the first position. Irrigation fluid carried by the catheter may be electrically coupled with a patient's blood through the shunting electrode. The shunting electrode may be used to reduce noise in an electrocardiogram signal that results from the pump used to supply the irrigation fluid.

A medical system includes a catheter including an insertion tube having a distal end, an elongated resilient distal section fixed to the distal end of the insertion tube, the distal section having an outer surface, and a plurality of electrode structures, each electrode structure being disposed on, and bulging above the outer surface of the distal section, each electrode structure including a respective primary electrode and at least one respective secondary electrode extending around the outer surface, and respective electrically insulating material disposed around the outer surface and between the respective primary electrode and the at least one respective secondary electrode, the respective primary electrode bulging further above the outer surface than the at least one respective secondary electrode and the electrically insulating material.

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.

Described herein is a system including a catheter, an optical circuit, a pulsed field ablation energy source, and a processing device. The catheter includes a proximal section, a distal section, and a shaft coupled between the proximal section and the distal section. The optical circuit is configured to transport light at least partially from the proximal section to the distal section and back. The pulsed field ablation energy source is coupled to the catheter and configured to transmit pulsed electrical signals to a tissue sample. The processing device is configured to analyze one or more optical signals received from the optical circuit to determine changes in polarization or phase retardation of light reflected or scattered by the tissue sample, and determine changes in a birefringence of the tissue sample based on the changes in polarization or phase retardation.

Medical catheterization is carried out by introducing a catheter into a heart, sliding the catheter through a sheath that encloses a multi-electrode probe into a chamber of the heart. The sheath is retracted to expose the probe. As the sheath is retracted the exposed probe expands into a spiral configuration, and the electrodes contact the endocardial surface of the chamber at multiple contact points.