Patent ID: 7756583

Claim:
An apparatus for intravascularly-induced neuromodulation, the apparatus comprising: an electric field generator; and an intravascular catheter comprising a shaft, an impedance-altering element, and a pair of bipolar electrodes positioned on the shaft on opposite sides of the impedance-altering element, wherein the impedance-altering element comprises an expandable, vessel occluding member; a first lead connected between one of the electrodes and a first terminal on the electric field generator; a second lead connected between the other one of the electrodes and a second terminal of opposite polarity on the electric field generator; at least one monitoring electrode carried by the impedance-altering element; and a current supply connected to said monitoring electrode for supplying current for monitoring a tissue property, wherein (a) the apparatus is configured for intravascular delivery of an electric field across the bipolar electrodes, and (b) the impedance-altering element is configured to locally increase impedance within a patient's vasculature between the bipolar electrodes during intravascular delivery of the electric field.