Patent ID: 8628473

Claim:
An ablation catheter with acoustic monitoring, the ablation catheter comprising: an elongated catheter body extending longitudinally between a proximal end and a distal end along a longitudinal axis; a distal member disposed adjacent the distal end, the distal member including an ablation element to ablate a biological member at a target region outside the catheter body; and one or more acoustic transducers each configured to direct an acoustic beam toward a respective target ablation region and receive reflection echoes therefrom; wherein the distal member includes a transducer housing in which the one or more acoustic transducers are disposed, the transducer housing including at least one transducer window through which the acoustic beam passes, the at least one transducer window portion of the distal member being at least 50% carbon by volume, the at least one transducer window being thermally and electrically conductive and having an acoustic impedance between an acoustic impedance of the one or more acoustic transducers and an acoustic impedance of the biological member; wherein the distal member is thermally and electrically conductive and is at least 50% carbon by volume.