Patent ID: 9302125
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: A61B,A61N

Claim Text:
1. A method of non-invasively treating atrial fibrillation in a heart of a patient, the method comprising: providing a housing having an ultrasound imaging system and a high intensity focused ultrasound system disposed in alignment with the ultrasound imaging system; inserting the housing into a body lumen of the patient with the housing located at a treatment location spaced from a target site on a posterior wall of the heart at which a lesion is to be formed to interrupt electrical conduction in the posterior wall so as to treat atrial fibrillation, wherein said inserting the housing into the body lumen includes inserting the housing into the patient's esophagus so that the treatment location is in the esophagus; operating the ultrasound imaging system to generate an image of a portion of the heart containing the target site; and while the housing is located at the treatment location, operating the high intensity focused ultrasound system, guided by the image, to ablate cardiac tissue at the target site so as to interrupt electrical-conduction pathways on the posterior wall of the heart, while patient tissue intervening between the housing and the cardiac tissue is not ablated.