A catheter system for treating a treatment site within or adjacent to a vessel wall or a heart valve within a body of a patient includes an energy source, an inflatable balloon, an energy guide, and an acoustic sensor. The energy source generates energy. The inflatable balloon is positionable substantially adjacent to the treatment site. The inflatable balloon has a balloon wall that defines a balloon interior that receives a balloon fluid. The energy guide receives energy from the energy source and guides the energy into the balloon interior. The acoustic sensor is positioned outside the body of the patient. The acoustic sensor senses acoustic sound waves generated in the balloon fluid within the balloon interior. The acoustic sensor generates a sensor signal based at least in part on the sensed acoustic sound waves. A system controller receives the sensor signal from the acoustic sensor and controls operation of the catheter system based at least in part on the sensor signal.

A catheter system for treating a vascular lesion within or adjacent to a vessel wall within a body of a patient includes a single light source that generates light energy, a first light guide and a second light guide, and a multiplexer. The first light guide and the second light guide are each configured to selectively receive light energy from the light source. The multiplexer receives the light energy from the light source in the form of a source beam and selectively directs the light energy from the light source in the form of individual guide beams to each of the first light guide and the second light guide.

A surgical laser delivery systems utilizes a standoff catheter to prevent contact and/or maintain a predetermined spacing between the laser delivery fiber or fiber assembly and the target. The standoff catheter includes multiple side-firing ports. The side-firing ports may include openings of the same or different dimensions, at least one diffuser, and/or at least one lens, to permit the operator to control the degree of vaporization/coagulation and/or vary lasing parameters without having to withdraw the optical fiber from the patient, by rotating or linearly moving the laser or laser assembly with respect the standoff catheter. The side-firing ports may also include an opening at the front of the stand-off catheter to enable use with a forward-firing laser fiber or fiber assembly.

A laser system may include a controller configured to direct a plurality of temporally spaced-apart electrical pulses to a device that optically pumps a lasing medium, and a lasing medium configured to output a quasi-continuous laser pulse in response to the optical pumping. The plurality of temporally spaced-apart electrical pulses may include (a) a first electrical pulse configured to excite the lasing medium to an energy level below a lasing threshold of the lasing medium, and (b) multiple second electrical pulses following the first electrical pulse. The quasi-continuous laser pulse is output in response to the multiple second electrical pulses.

Radial emission optical fiber terminations that include conical elements can prevent axial emission and redirect all incident light to radial positions. One termination includes an optical fiber having an up-tapered terminus, the up-tapered terminus having a maximum taper diameter of at least 1.5 times the core diameter and ending at a cone-tip which has an apex angle in a range of about 70° to about 100°. Another termination includes a fiber cap that is a unitary construction of a glass tube and an optical element that bisects the glass tube. The glass tube includes an open end adapted to receive an optical fiber and a closed end. The optical element, consisting of fused quartz or fused silica, has an input face proximal to the open end of the glass tube and a conical face proximal to the closed end of the glass tube.

A medical laser apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a laser oscillation unit for oscillating a laser; a beam width adjustment unit for adjusting the beam width of the laser oscillated from the laser oscillation unit; and a concentration unit for concentrating the laser of which the beam width has expanded by means of the beam width adjustment unit.

A medical device that includes a hand piece; a beam fiber; and a beam disperser located at a distal end of the beam fiber through which beam energy is dispersed. The beam disperser includes one face, or a plurality of substantially planar faces through which the beam energy is dispersed.

Various methods, systems, and devices for treating tissue ablation are disclosed. Some embodiments disclosed herein pertain to methods of treating tumors, systems used for irradiating tissue and tumors with electromagnetic radiation, components and devices of that system, and kits for providing systems used for irradiating tissue and tumors with electromagnetic radiation. In some embodiments, the system provides sub-ablative infrared radiation that is absorbed by nanoparticles. In some embodiments, the nanoparticles absorb the radiation converting it into heat energy. In some embodiments, though the infrared radiation itself may be sub-ablative, the heat energy generated by the nanoparticles is sufficient to cause thermal coagulation, hyperthermia, and/or tissue ablation.

An apparatus for obtaining an anti-tumour immunologic response by thermotherapy of a treatment lesion covering at least a portion of a tumour is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a heating probe comprising an optical fiber and a cooling catheter. The optical fiber is inserted in the cooling catheter. Further the heating probe has a light emitting area, and the heating probe is interstitially insertable into the tumour of the treatment lesion. The heat probe is internally cooled by a fluid circulating in said catheter. The apparatus further comprises a first thermal sensor member having at least one sensor area. The first thermal sensor member is positionable at a distance from said boundary. The apparatus also comprises a control unit for controlling a power output of said light source based on a measured first temperature.

[Object] To provide an ablation system capable of suppressing heat damages to the lumen intima. [Solution] An ablation system 10 has an ablation device 11 in which a balloon 21 is provided on the distal end side of a shaft 22 and an in-side tube 27 causing a fluid to flow into the balloon 21, the internal space of the shaft 22 causing a fluid to flow out of the balloon 21, and an optical fiber 29 guiding laser light into the balloon 21 are individually provided along the shaft 22, a laser light generating unit 12 emitting laser light to the optical fiber 29, and a fluid returning unit 13 returning a fluid into the internal space of the balloon 21. The ablation device 11 has a reflector 33 reflecting laser light emitted from the optical fiber 29 in the balloon 21, in which the reflector 33 is movable along the axial direction 191 in the balloon 21 and is rotatable in the axial direction 101 as the axis line.