Patent ID: 8568399

Claim:
A method for thermally-induced hepatic neuromodulation to decrease blood glucose levels within a subject, comprising: identifying a subject having a metabolic disorder, inserting a radiofrequency (RF) ablation catheter into vasculature of said subject; advancing the RF ablation catheter to a location within a common hepatic artery of the vasculature; wherein the location is within the common hepatic artery between a branch of the celiac artery and a branch of the common hepatic artery; and using the RF ablation catheter to intravascularly deliver a therapeutically effective amount of RF energy to an inner wall of the common hepatic artery to ablate one or more sympathetic nerves of a hepatic plexus, thereby decreasing blood glucose levels within the subject, wherein the RF ablation catheter comprises two electrodes, and wherein the RF ablation catheter is configured to maintain sufficient contact pressure of at least one of said electrodes against the inner wall of the common hepatic artery while the RF energy is being delivered, wherein the RF energy is caused to be delivered to an anterior 180° arc of the inner wall of the common hepatic artery, thereby ablating sympathetic nerves without ablating parasympathetic nerves.