Systems and Methods for Steering Catheters

Abstract

Systems and methods for steering catheters to facilitate advancing the catheters through the body, wherein the catheters employ multiple steering stages, each of which can move in multiple planes. The steering stages are independently controlled to enable them to form complex shapes. In one embodiment, the steerable catheter includes an elongated catheter body with the steering stages incorporated into the distal end of the catheter. The steering stages may incorporate multiple memory wires and corresponding heating elements that control the temperatures of the memory wires and consequently control the shapes of the wires and the steering stages in which they are embedded. The catheter may be any type of catheter (e.g., a lumen catheter) and may include features that enable the catheter to perform functions such as delivering therapies (e.g., ablation) to target tissues within the body.

1 - 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . A method for inserting a steerable catheter into a body, the method comprising:
 providing a steerable catheter having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the steerable catheter has a plurality of steering stages at the distal end, each being steerable in at least two different planes independently of the other steering stages;   introducing the steerable catheter into the body; and   advancing the steerable catheter into the body while controlling each of the steering stages, thereby advancing the steerable catheter through a selected path through the body.   
     
     
         12 . The method of claim  10 , wherein each steering stage has a plurality of memory wires and corresponding heating elements embedded therein, wherein controlling each of the steering stages comprises controlling the heating elements and thereby causing the memory wires to bend the steering stages. 
     
     
         13 . The method of claim  10 , wherein controlling each of the steering stages comprises causing each steering stage to bend alternately in at least two different planes through an axis at the center of the steering stage. 
     
     
         14 . The method of claim  10 , wherein controlling each of the steering stages comprises causing a first one of the steering stages to bend in a first plane and causing a second one of the steering stages to bend in a second plane that is different from the first plane. 
     
     
         15 . The method of claim  10 , further comprising, after advancing the steerable catheter through the selected path through the body, delivering a therapy to the body using the steerable catheter. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the steerable catheter includes an ablation element, and wherein delivering the therapy to the body comprises ablating target tissue within the body using the ablation element. 
     
     
         17 . The method of claim  10 , wherein the steerable catheter comprises a lumen catheter, the method further comprising, after advancing the steerable catheter through the selected path through the body, advancing at least one additional catheter through the lumen catheter and delivering a therapy to the body using the at least one additional catheter. 
     
     
         18 . The method of claim  10 , wherein the steerability of the plurality of steering stages at the distal end is independent of a shape of a proximal portion of the steerable catheter. 
     
     
         19 . The method of claim  10 , wherein advancing the steerable catheter into the body comprises controlling the steering stages so that at least a first one of the steering stages is steered in a first plane while at least a second one of the steering stages is steered in a second plane which is different from the first plane, wherein each steering stage is controlled by controlling the temperatures of heating elements adjacent to corresponding memory wires embedded in an outer wall of the steering stage, thereby causing the memory wires to relax or bend toward memorized shapes.