Patent ID: 8504147

Claim:
An apparatus for selective denervation of a target tissue in a patient's body, the target tissue comprising nerve cells, the apparatus comprising: a non-implantable intraluminal catheter configured to be percutaneously introduced into a lumen of an artery, the catheter having one or more electrodes disposed thereon, wherein the individual electrodes are configured to transmit at least one of an electrical pulse or a series of electrical pulses; and a pulse generator operatively connected to the catheter, wherein the pulse generator is electrically connected to a proximal end of the intraluminal catheter outside the patient's body to deliver cellular poration energy to the one or more electrodes when the catheter is percutaneously introduced into the lumen of the artery, wherein the electrodes and generator are configured to deliver cellular poration energy to nerve cells outside the lumen of the artery sufficient to disrupt a pain conduction pathway by inducing irreversible electroporation in the nerve cells.