The subject of this disclosure is devices, systems, and uses thereof to treat a plurality of patients for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The solution can include delivering a multi-electrode radiofrequency balloon catheter and a multi-electrode diagnostic catheter to one or more targeted pulmonary veins; ablating tissue of the one or more targeted pulmonary veins using the multi-electrode radiofrequency balloon catheter; diagnosing the one or more targeted pulmonary veins using the multi-electrode diagnostic catheter; and achieving at least one of a predetermined clinical effectiveness and acute effectiveness of the method or use based on use of the multi-electrode radiofrequency balloon catheter and the multi-electrode diagnostic catheter in the isolation of the one or more targeted pulmonary veins.

Disclosed are various examples and embodiments of a Nitinol basket for an electrophysiological (EP) mapping catheter. In one embodiment, the Nitinol basket comprises a plurality of basket splines, each basket spline having a distalmost portion and a proximal end, where the distal tip is uninterruptedly contiguous and continuous with the distalmost portions of the basket splines and formed from the same piece, slab or ingot comprising Nitinol as the splines. In such an embodiment, the basket splines and distal tip are cut and formed from a same single length or piece of Nitinol tubing or a Nitinol hypotube. The respective distal portions of each of the Nitinol splines can be continuous and contiguous with, and connected to, the Nitinol distal tip, each spline being configured to extend outwardly away from an imaginary central axis of the Nitinol basket and its proximal end and distal portion to form a curved shape therebetween when the Nitinol basket is in an undeformed and deployed state. The splines can be configured to be spaced approximately equal distances apart from one another when the Nitinol basket is in an undeformed and deployed state, and the can be configured collectively to form a basket shape when the Nitinol basket is in an undeformed, expanded and deployed state.

In one embodiment, a medical system includes a catheter to be inserted into a chamber of a heart, and including electrodes to capture electrical activity of tissue of the chamber over time, a display, and processing circuitry configured to compute a propagation of a cardiac activation wave over an anatomical map of the chamber from a start time in a cardiac cycle to an end time in the cardiac cycle responsively to the captured electrical activity, render to the display a sub-region of the anatomical map, select a time-bounded portion of the propagation of the cardiac activation wave commencing at a time after the start time responsively to when the propagation would commence to be rendered in the sub-region of the anatomical map, and render to the display the time-bound portion of the propagation of the cardiac activation wave on the sub-region of the anatomical map.

In one embodiment, a medical system includes a catheter configured to be inserted into a chamber of a heart, and including electrodes configured to capture electrical activity of tissue of the chamber over time, a display, and processing circuitry configured to compute a propagation of a cardiac activation wave over an anatomical map of the chamber of the heart from a start time in a cardiac cycle to an end time in the cardiac cycle responsively to the captured electrical activity, and render to the display respective portions of the propagation of the cardiac activation wave over respective portions of the anatomical map as viewed from a virtual camera while manipulating the virtual camera to follow progression of the propagation of the cardiac activation wave over the anatomical map.

In one embodiment, a medical system includes a catheter configured to be inserted into a heart of a living subject, and including electrodes configured to capture electrical activity of the heart at respective position in the heart, a display, and processing circuitry configured to receive position signals from the catheter, and in response to the position signals compute the respective positions of the electrodes, generate an anatomical map responsively to respective ones of the computed positions, find an anatomical feature of the heart and a position of the anatomical feature responsively to the respective positions of, and electrical activity captured by, respective ones of the electrodes, automatically segment the anatomical map responsively to the found position of the anatomical feature, and render the anatomical map to the display.

In one embodiment, a medical system includes a catheter configured to be inserted into a chamber of a heart of a living subject, and including multiple electrodes configured to capture electrical activity from electrical activation signals propagating in tissue of the chamber, a display, and processing circuitry configured to automatically select bipolar signals to be captured into an electro-anatomical map from respective electrode pairs of the multiple electrodes responsively to an alignment of the respective electrode pairs with a direction of propagation of the electrical activation signals, and render the electro-anatomical map to the display.

Medical apparatus and methods for diagnostic and site determination of cardiac arrhythmias within a heart of a subject are provided. A computing device receives, records and processes electrocardiogram (ECG) signals in the form of bipolar and unipolar ECGs associated with respective cardiac tissue locations corresponding to catheter distal end sensors on locations. Unipolar ECGs that include signals from a plurality of successive heartbeats corresponding to locations within an area of study are analyzed to identify Fractionated Unipolar ECG Signal Complexes (FUESCs) of unipolar ECGs by defining complexes of the unipolar ECGs that correspond to respective bipolar activity windows. Identified arrhythmia sites for treatment include a predetermined number of unipolar ECGs that have a predetermined number of FUESCs. Atrial arrhythmia sites for treatment by ablation can be identified with respect to FUESCs of unipolar ECGs that include signals from at least ten successive heartbeats of an atrial tissue study area.

Some embodiments of a system or method for treating heart tissue can include a control system and catheter device operated in a manner to intermittently occlude a heart vessel for controlled periods of time that provide redistribution of blood flow. In particular embodiments, the system and methods may be configured to monitor at least one input signal detected at a coronary sinus and thereby execute a process for determining a satisfactory time period for the occlusion of the coronary sinus. In further embodiments, after the occlusion of the coronary sinus is released, the control system can be configured to select the duration of the release phase before the starting the next occlusion cycle.

A system comprises a catheter configured for delivery to a body cavity defined by surrounding tissue; a plurality of ultrasound transducers coupled to a distal end of the catheter; and an electronics module configured to selectively turn on/off each ultrasound transducer according to a predetermined activation sequence and to process signals received from each ultrasound transducer to produce at least a 2D display of the surrounding tissue. A user can selectively calculate and display various aspects of cardiac activity. The user can display Dipole Density (DDM), Charge Density (CDM), or Voltage (V-V). The shape and location of the chamber (surface), and the potentials recorded at electrodes can be displayed. The system can also change back and forth between the different display modes, and with post processing tools, can change how various types of information is displayed. Methods are also provided.

A system includes signal acquisition circuitry and a processing unit. The signal acquisition circuitry is configured to receive multiple intra-cardiac signals acquired by multiple electrodes of an intra-cardiac probe in a heart of a patient. The processing unit is configured to select a group of the intra-cardiac signals, extract a respective most-likely annotation value from each of the intra-cardiac signals in the group, in accordance with a likelihood criterion, identify in the group an intra-cardiac signal whose most-likely annotation value is statistically deviant in the group by more than a predefined measure of deviation, extract, from the intra-cardiac signal having the statistically deviant annotation value, at least a second-most-likely annotation value in accordance with the likelihood criterion, and, responsive to a statistical deviation of the second-most-likely annotation value, select a valid annotation value for the corresponding intra-cardiac signal.