Patent ID: 9554708
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61M,Y10T

Claim:
1. A catheter, comprising: a catheter body; a tip electrode distal the catheter body, the tip electrode having a shell wall, a hollow cavity and a plug, the shell wall having at least an illumination opening and a collection opening, and the plug sealing the hollow cavity at a proximal end of the shell wall; a first fiber optic cable in communication with the illumination opening; a second fiber optic cable in communication with the hollow cavity; and an irrigation tubing configured to deliver irrigation fluid to the hollow cavity; wherein light emitted from the first fiber optic cable exits the tip electrode to reach tissue through the illumination opening in defining a first path and returns to the tip electrode from the tissue through the collection opening into the hollow cavity where the light is first collected and thereafter received by the second fiber optic cable in defining a second path, the first and second paths being optically isolated from each other within the tip electrode; and wherein the first and second fiber optic cables and the irrigation tubing extend in passages in the plug.