Patent ID: 8784413

Claim:
An ablation catheter for use in a tissue ablation procedure comprising: an insertion tube, the insertion tube being a flexible insertion tube, the insertion tube having a distal end for insertion into a body cavity of a patient; a distal tip electrode disposed at the distal end of the insertion tube and configured to be brought into contact to ablate tissue in the body cavity; a resilient member comprising a spring which couples the distal tip electrode to the distal end of the insertion tube and is configured to deform in response to pressure exerted on the distal tip electrode when the distal tip electrode engages the tissue during the tissue ablation procedure; and a magnetic position sensor disposed at the distal end of the insertion tube near the distal tip electrode for sensing a position of the distal tip electrode relative to the distal end of the insertion tube, which changes in response to deformation of the resilient member, to give a total magnitude of the movement of distal tip electrode relative to the distal end of insertion tube, so as to give a measure of the deformation of resilient member, and the magnetic position sensor is configured to generate a signal, responsively to the deformation, which is indicative of the pressure exerted on the distal tip electrode during the tissue ablation procedure; wherein the magnetic position sensor is configured to generate a signal indicative of the position of the distal tip electrode responsively to a magnetic field that is generated in a vicinity of the distal tip electrode; wherein the ablation catheter comprises a magnetic field generator within the distal end of the insertion tube for generating the magnetic field.