Patent ID: 6716166
Filing Date: 2004-04-06
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
Apparatus for mapping a surface of a cavity within a body of a subject, comprising:an elongate probe, having a longitudinal axis and comprising a distal portion adapted for insertion into the heart and a probe position sensor, which is adapted to generate signals indicative of position coordinates of the probe within the body; a plurality of acoustic transducers, distributed along the longitudinal axis over the distal portion of the probe, which transducers are adapted to be actuated individually to emit acoustic waves while the probe is in the heart, and are further adapted to receive the acoustic waves after reflection of the waves from the surface of the heart and to generate, responsive to the received waves, electrical signals indicative of times of flight of the waves; a reference position sensor maintained in a fixed position relative to the body of the subject; signal processing circuitry for receiving the electrical signals indicative of times of flight of the waves from the acoustic transducers and for receiving the signals indicative of position coordinates of the probe from the probe position sensor for reconstructing a three-dimensional geometric map of the surface of the heart, the signal processing circuitry also comparing the signals indicative of position coordinates of the probe to the fixed position of the reference position sensor for determining a position of the probe position sensor which accounts for motion of the heart.