Patent ID: 8545408
Filing Date: 2013-10-01
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An ablation system comprising: a catheter including an elongated catheter body extending longitudinally between a proximal end and a distal end along a longitudinal axis, and at least one ablation element disposed in a distal portion which is adjacent the distal end of the catheter body to ablate a targeted tissue region outside the catheter body by contacting a tissue surface; a pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer disposed in the distal portion and arranged to emit and receive an acoustic beam having a centroid along a beam axis direction at a transducer angle of between about 30 degrees and about 60 degrees relative to a distal direction of the longitudinal axis at a location of intersection between the longitudinal axis and the beam direction of the centroid of the acoustic beam, wherein the pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer emits and receives acoustic pulses to provide transducer detected information regarding the targeted tissue region being ablated; a rotation mechanism to rotate at least the distal portion around the longitudinal axis; and a control and interface system to process the transducer detected information from the pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer and to provide feedback to at least one of a user via a user interface or the control and interface system itself to be used to control ablation by the at least one ablation element; wherein the transducer detected information includes a detected lesion depth along a beam emanation direction; and wherein the control and interface system includes a lesion depth correction module which converts the detected lesion depth along the beam direction to a corrected lesion depth in a normal direction which is perpendicular to the tissue surface in contact with the at least one ablation element.