Neuromodulation catheter systems with controlled irrigation capabilities and methods for using such systems are disclosed herein. One such method includes, for example, positioning an irrigated neuromodulation catheter at a treatment site within a renal blood vessel of a human patient, delivering neuromodulation energy at the treatment site, and delivering irrigation fluid to the treatment site having characteristics coordinated with the delivered energy. The characteristics can be adjusted to maintain an energy delivery element and/or tissue of the blood vessel at a constant temperature as power is increased. The method can further include monitoring at least one parameter of the tissue and/or of the energy delivery element, and adjusting the neuromodulation energy and/or the characteristics of the irrigation fluid if the at least one parameter falls outside of a treatment range of values.

A cryoadhesion apparatus includes a remote control assembly, a valve assembly, a needle catheter assembly, and a gas cylinder, the remote control assembly includes a sheath structure and a remote control, the sheath structure is provided with a catheter channel for the needle catheter assembly to pass through, two ends of the valve assembly are respectively connected to the needle catheter assembly and the gas bottle; the sheath structure is capable of squeezing the needle catheter assembly, when squeezing is maintained, the needle catheter assembly is capable of moving along with the sheath structure under a frictional force between an inner wall of the catheter channel and the needle catheter assembly; the remote control is configured to, when triggered, send a trigger signal to the valve assembly; the valve assembly is configured to transport, when receiving the trigger signal, a gas from the gas cylinder to the needle catheter assembly.

Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, a method of performing electronically controlled electrotherapy may include modifying or killing target cells and simultaneously modifying a secondary outcome by delivering electrical pulses and dynamically adjusting an energy delivery profile of the electrical pulses in response to a measurement. The secondary outcome may be a physical outcome, a biological outcome, and/or a systemic outcome.

Methods for detecting tubing in a pump assembly of a pump system are provided. For example, a method comprises connecting a power supply to each of a plurality of pump motors of the pump system. Each pump motor of the plurality of pump motors has a power supply cable configured to connect to the power supply and drives a pump head of a plurality of pump heads of the pump system. The method also comprises sensing a motor current from each of the power supply cables, determining whether tubing is loaded in each pump head, and, if tubing is not loaded in a pump head, then disconnecting from the power supply the power supply cable of the pump motor associated with the pump head in which tubing is not loaded. Systems for detecting the presence of tubing within a pump head of a plurality of pump heads also are provided.

A catheter comprises a catheter shaft having a fluid channel, an ultrasound transducer and a compliant balloon mounted on the catheter shaft and having an interior in fluid communication with the fluid channel and containing the ultrasound transducer. The compliant balloon includes a balloon wall having a working section radially surrounding the ultrasound transducer. The working section has a predetermined straightness when the working section has a first diameter and when the working section has a second diameter that is at least 2 mm greater than the first diameter. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

In one aspect, embodiments relate to a system for preventative dental laser treatment that ensures even irradiation of a laser beam. The system includes, a laser arrangement configured to generate the laser beam. The laser beam has one or more of a super-Gaussian energy profile and a transverse ring mode. The system also includes a focus optic. The focus optic is configured to converge the laser beam with a numerical aperture of 0.1 or less to a focal region. The system also includes a hand piece configured to direct the laser beam at a surface of a dental hard tissue. The system additionally includes a controller. The controller is configured to control one or more parameters of the laser source, such that a portion of the surface of the dental hard tissue is heated to a temperature in a range between 400° Celsius and 1300° Celsius.

A catheter has at least a first transducer located in an interior of at least a first balloon, the first transducer configured to be operated at an operational frequency. The first transducer transmits an acoustic signal that provides a first acoustic field with multiple lobes along a longitudinal axis of the first transducer, each of the lobes has a spatial intensity maximum in a spatial intensity distribution of the first acoustic field, the spatial intensity distribution being at a surface of the first balloon and parallel to a surface of the first transducer, the spatial intensity distribution of the first acoustic field having one or more reduced spatial acoustic intensity locations where the spatial intensity of the acoustic field of the first transducer is 50% or less of a value of one of the spatial intensity maxima of the first transducer, each of the reduced spatial acoustic intensity locations being between the spatial intensity maxima for lobes that are adjacent to one another along the longitudinal axis of the first transducer, and each of the reduced spatial acoustic intensity locations being on the surface of the first balloon between the spatial intensity maxima that are adjacent to one another along the longitudinal axis of the first transducer. The catheter further comprises at least a first electrode configured to transmit an electromagnetic signal, the first electrode being positioned on the first balloon at one of the reduced spatial acoustic intensity location of the first transducer.

A probe is configured with a flushing port and an evacuation port to establish a flow path to remove blood from a resected tissue. The probe comprises a balloon configured to expand and contact the resected tissue to compress filaments and improve access to the underlying blood vessels for coagulation with an energy source. An endoscope can be used to view the tissue, and the balloon may comprise a transparent material or a viewing port to allow imaging of the bleeding tissue through the balloon. The probe may have a light source to illuminate the tissue with a beam oriented at an oblique angle to the tissue surface, which can decrease interference from blood and may allow more localized coagulation of the blood vessel.

Methods of treating tumors by administering compounds to a patient are provided. Compounds such as pro drugs, e.g., 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA), may be administered to the patient orally, by injection, intravenously, or topically, which then accumulate preferentially as compounds such as protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in tumor cells. After such accumulation, compounds such as PpIX are then activated in various aspects to treat tumors cells, thereby treating cancer. Cancers such as glioblastoma may be treated.

According to some embodiments, a medical instrument (for example, an ablation device) comprises an elongate body having a proximal end and a distal end, an energy delivery member positioned at the distal end of the elongate body, a first plurality of temperature-measurement devices carried by or positioned within the energy delivery member, the first plurality of temperature-measurement devices being thermally insulated from the energy delivery member, and a second plurality of temperature-measurement devices positioned proximal to a proximal end of the energy delivery member, the second plurality of temperature-measurement devices being thermally insulated from the energy delivery member.