A transseptal crossing needle has an elongate, flexible tubular body, having a proximal end, a distal end and an electrically conductive sidewall defining a central lumen. The distal end has a radially inwardly extending annular recess. The tubular body has a first outside diameter proximally of the annular recess and a second, smaller outside diameter in the recess. An electrode tip has a proximally extending connector residing within the annular recess, and the electrode tip has a third outside diameter distally of the connector, which is greater than the first diameter. An insulation layer encloses the sidewall and the connector, and has an outside diameter approximately the same as the third diameter to provide a uniform outside diameter throughout a distal zone of the needle.

An ablation catheter having a deformable tip is disclosed herein. In some implementations, the ablation catheter includes a catheter body and a deformable tip secured to the catheter body. In these and other implementations, the catheter body can include a fluid delivery lumen. In these and other implementations, the deformable tip includes one or more valves that are configured to open in response to deformation of the deformable tip. In these and still other implementations, the ablation catheter is configured to permit liquid communication between an interior of the deformable tip and an exterior of the deformable tip. In some implementations, RF energy is transmitted from the interior of the deformable tip to the exterior of the deformable tip via liquid exiting the deformable tip.

Tissue modification instruments. In some embodiments, the instrument may comprise a shaft extending along an axis. A tissue treatment tip may be positioned at a distal end of the shaft. The tissue treatment tip may comprise one or more energy delivery elements configured to deliver tissue-modification energy. The tissue treatment tip may comprise a non-branching tip that extends away from the axis to define a tissue treatment region that is wider than a width of the shaft. The tissue treatment tip may comprise a terminal end, which may be positioned at the distal end of the instrument in some embodiments or may be positioned proximal of the distal end of the instrument.

The subject of this disclosure includes an ablation system for visually supporting a tissue ablation procedure, including a display comprising a user interface; and at least one processor in communication with the display, the at least one processor configured to control one or more of a plurality of electrodes of a radiofrequency balloon catheter to ablate organ tissues of one or more targeted pulmonary veins; determine a characteristic, based on ablation parameters of the radiofrequency balloon catheter, of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) success rate; and present, on the display, visual information corresponding to each electrode for an indication, based on the characteristic, for PVI success rate.

Vaporization electrodes having functional surfaces with non-smooth semispherical shapes, and electrosurgical devices equipped therewith. The electrodes include a base oppositely disposed from its functional surface. The non-smooth semispherical shape of a functional surface is defined by a plurality of individual planar and/or cylindrical surfaces that intersect each other to define edges therebetween.

Provided is a surgical electrode in which an end portion capable of emitting a high frequency has a surface treatment film that includes a first coating and a second film in the order mentioned. The first coating is formed by contacting a surface treatment agent (X) with or over the entirety or a part of the surface of the end portion at least, which surface treatment agent (X) contains at least an amino group-containing compound, and the second film is formed by contacting a surface treatment agent (Y) with a part or the entirety of the surface of the first coating, which surface treatment agent (Y) contains: a silicone resin (A); a compound (B) containing a metal element selected from titanium, platinum, rhodium and palladium; and an aromatic hydrocarbon-based solvent (C), and satisfies: (I) the content of the silicone resin is in a range of 90% by mass to 99.9% by mass with respect to a total solid mass of the silicone resin and the compound; and (II) a ratio (B.sub.M/A.sub.M) of a mass (B.sub.M) of the compound to a mass (A.sub.M) of the silicone resin is in a range of 0.001 to 0.111.

Electrode assemblies include segmented electrodes disposed on a catheter. The segmented electrodes can be constructed at the tip of the catheter. Tip electrodes can be constructed from an electrically insulative substrate comprising an inner lumen, an external tip surface, and a plurality of channels extending from the inner lumen to the external tip surface, a plurality of segmented electrodes, and a plurality of spot electrodes. Each of the plurality of segmented electrodes and each of the plurality of spot electrodes can be laterally separated from each other by an electrically non-conductive substrate portion and each of the spot electrodes and each of the segmented electrodes can be electrically coupled to at least one wire or conductor trace.

Electrosurgical lysing methods. In some implementations, the method may comprise delivering a lysing tip through an entrance incision into a patient's body, wherein the lysing tip comprises at least one bead comprising an at least substantially electrically non-conductive surface; and at least one lysing segment extending within a recess defined, at least in part, by the at least one bead. The at least one bead may protrude both distally and proximally relative to the at least one lysing segment. The method may further comprise forming opposing tissue planes using the lysing tip to create an implant pocket; and inserting an implant through the entrance incision and into the implant pocket.

The present invention is directed to a medical device for providing treatment to diseased tissue and cells. The medical device is configured to ablate a target tissue surface, optionally within a resection cavity, and further deliver a therapeutic that targets diseased (e.g., cancer) cells via a marker whose expression is upregulated by the ablation. The ablation directly kills diseased cells associated with the tissue surface. While some diseased cells evade direct ablation, those cells nevertheless upregulate certain cell surface markers in response to the ablation, even while other, healthy or normal cells do not upregulate expression of the marker in response to the ablation. Devices and methods disclosed herein are used to deliver a therapeutic that uses the upregulated cell surface marker to cause the death of those diseased cells.

The subject of this disclosure includes systems, devices and methods to treat a predetermined patient population for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, the method including ablating tissue of one or more targeted pulmonary veins with one or more of a plurality of the electrodes of an independently controlled multi-electrode radiofrequency balloon catheter, the balloon catheter comprising the plurality of electrodes for radiofrequency ablation that are independently controllable; determining a predictor, based on ablation parameters of the balloon catheter, of single shot pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) success rate; and achieving, based on the predictor and step of ablating tissue, a single shot isolation PVI success rate in the isolation of all targeted pulmonary veins for the predetermined patient population.