Patent ID: 8777857
Filing Date: 2014-07-15
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An ablation catheter comprising: an elongated catheter body extending longitudinally between a proximal end and a distal end along a longitudinal axis; and a distal ablating electrode which is adjacent the distal end of the catheter body to ablate a targeted tissue region outside the catheter body; a single pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer disposed in an interior space of the distal ablating electrode and arranged to emit from the interior space to an exterior of the distal ablating electrode and receive from the exterior to the interior space of the distal ablating electrode, an acoustic beam along a centroid in a beam 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 of the ultrasonic transducer; and a manipulation mechanism to manipulate the distal ablating electrode in movement including rotation of at least the distal ablating electrode around the longitudinal axis; wherein the single pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer emits and receives acoustic pulses to provide lesion information in the targeted tissue region being ablated.