Patent ID: 7331959

Claim:
An ablation system for ablating a surface of endocardial tissue, the system comprising a catheter; an ablation electrode positioned at a distal end of the catheter; a sheath defining a main lumen sized to receive the catheter within the main lumen and introduce the catheter into a cardiac cavity; a wire rail received within at least a portion of the sheath, the wire rail having a proximal first end and a distal second end, the second end being connected with the catheter proximal and adjacent to the ablation electrode, wherein the wire rail is wrapped around a distal end of the sheath, a first segment of the wire rail extending along an outer surface of the sheath, and a second segment of the wire rail extending along an inner surface of the sheath, and wherein pulling on the proximal first end of the wire rail causes relative sliding motion between the catheter and the sheath to extend the catheter from the sheath.