Pulmonary artery ablation catheter

Abstract

A multi-pole synchronous pulmonary artery radiofrequency ablation catheter, wherein an adjustment apparatus is arranged on a control handle; a catheter body is hollow, and a cavity is arranged therein; a lead wire, a temperature sensing wire and a pull wire are arranged in the cavity; one end of the catheter body is flexible, and the flexible end is connected to an annular ring; the other end of the catheter body is connected to the control handle; one end of the pull wire is connected to the flexible end, and the other end of the pull wire is connected to the adjustment apparatus on the control handle, the tension of the pull wire is adjusted through the adjustment apparatus to achieve radian control of the flexible end; a shape memory wire is arranged in the annular ring, one end of the shape memory wire extends to the end of the annular ring and the other end of the shape memory wire passes through the root of the annular ring and is fixed on the flexible end of the catheter body; the annular ring is provided with an electrode group with each electrode connected to the lead wire and temperature sensing wire; the lead wire and temperature sensing wire go through the catheter body and are electrically connected to the control handle. The device uses cold saline perfusion method to protect the vascular intima and possesses advantages of simple operation, short operation time and controllable precise ablation. The device can be used to treat pulmonary hypertension with pulmonary denervation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A pulmonary artery ablation catheter, comprising:
 a control handle;   a catheter body being hollow and comprising a cavity arranged in the catheter body, the catheter body extending along a catheter body direction;   a tissue-contacting ablation portion disposed at a distal end of the catheter body, the tissue-contacting ablation portion being flexible so as to be deformable between a first retracted configuration in which the tissue-contacting ablation portion extends along the catheter body direction and a second deployed configuration in which the tissue-contacting ablation portion extends along an annular ring shape, the tissue-contacting ablation portion being biased into the annular ring shape oriented transverse to the catheter body extending direction; and   at least a first ablation device disposed on the tissue-contacting ablation portion in a position such that when the tissue-contacting ablation portion is in the second deployed configuration, the first ablation device faces a radially outward orientation relative to the annular ring shape of the tissue-contacting ablation portion.   
     
     
         2 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion is biased to an annular ring shape having a diameter between 25 mm and 45 mm. 
     
     
         3 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion is biased to an annular ring shape having a diameter in the range of 12 mm to 40 mm. 
     
     
         4 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion has a length sized and is biased to an annular ring shape that is less than a full circle. 
     
     
         5 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein one end of the catheter body is flexible, and the flexible end is connected to the annular ring, and wherein the other end of the catheter body is connected to the control handle. 
     
     
         6 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 5 , wherein one end of the pull wire is connected to the flexible end, and the other end of the pull wire is connected to an adjustment apparatus on the control handle, the adjustment apparatus being configured to adjust the tension of the pull wire to change a curvature of the flexible end. 
     
     
         7 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , additionally comprising a shape memory wire disposed in the tissue-contacting ablation portion and configured to provide the bias of the tissue-contacting ablation portion into the annular ring shape. 
     
     
         8 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion comprises an electrode group including a plurality of electrodes, and each electrode of the electrode group is connected to a lead wire a temperature sensing wire. 
     
     
         9 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 8 , wherein the lead wire and the temperature sensing wire go through the catheter body and are electrically connected to the control handle. 
     
     
         10 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , additionally comprising an infusion tube arranged in the cavity of the catheter body and a through hole is arranged on the at least one ablation device, the infusion tube extending through the tissue-contacting ablation portion connected to the at least one ablation device such that transfused fluid flows out from the through hole. 
     
     
         11 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , additionally comprising at least a plurality of ablation devices, wherein the ablation devices comprise a material selected from the group consisted of platinum-iridium alloy, gold, stainless steel and nickel alloy, a diameter in the range of 1.3-2.0 mm, a length in the range of 1.2-4 mm and an edge space between adjacent ablation devices in the range of 0.5-10 mm. 
     
     
         12 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion includes a counterbore, an inner diameter of the counterbore fits around an outer diameter of a root of the tissue-contacting ablation portion, the root being inserted into and fixed in the counterbore. 
     
     
         13 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion includes a groove, a connector is disposed in the groove, wherein one end of the connector is connected to a pull wire and the other end of the connector is connected to shape memory wire disposed in the tissue-contacting ablation portion. 
     
     
         14 . The pulmonary artery ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion includes shape memory wire comprising shape memory alloy selected from the group consisted of nickel titanium alloy, stainless steel and titanium, with a diameter in the range of 0.25-0.5 mm, the diameter of the annular ring being in the range of 12-40 mm. 
     
     
         15 . The multi-pole synchronous pulmonary artery radiofrequency ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the flexible end of the catheter body is made of medical polymer materials with a length in the range of 30-80 mm. 
     
     
         16 . The multi-pole synchronous pulmonary artery radiofrequency ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the connector is connected with a UV-curing adhesive. 
     
     
         17 . The multi-pole synchronous pulmonary artery radiofrequency ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the joint between the flexible end of the catheter body and the annular ring is sealed. 
     
     
         18 . The multi-pole synchronous pulmonary artery radiofrequency ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the pull wire is made of stainless steel or nickel-titanium alloy, the pull wire including a coil spring, the coil spring includes a spring sleeve made of a polyimide material. 
     
     
         19 . The multi-pole synchronous pulmonary artery radiofrequency ablation catheter according to  claim 1 , wherein the shape memory wire is configured to bias the annular ring into a circumferential configuration with exposed surfaces of the electrodes facing radially outwardly. 
     
     
         20 . A pulmonary artery ablation catheter, comprising:
 a catheter body including a handle;   a lumen member having a proximal end connected to the catheter body and a distal end;   an ablation device assembly having a proximal end connected to the distal end of the lumen member, the ablation device assembly comprising a longitudinally extending flexible lumen member and a plurality of ablation devices disposed along the flexible lumen member, each ablation device having a surface exposed at an outer surface of the flexible lumen member, the flexible lumen member being biased into a circumferentially extending annular ring shape wherein exposed surfaces of the electrodes face a radially outward direction when the flexible lumen member is in the circumferentially extending configuration.   
     
     
         21 . The catheter according to  claim 20 , additionally comprising an electrical connection having a proximal portion in the handle and extending from the handle to each of the plurality ablation devices and configured to allow energy applied to the proximal portion of the electrical connection to be independently applied to each of the ablation devices. 
     
     
         22 . The catheter according to  claim 21 , wherein the ablation devices are separated and electrically isolated from each other. 
     
     
         23 . The catheter according to  claim 22 , wherein the electrical connection comprises a plurality of electrical wires connected to the plurality of ablation devices, respectively. 
     
     
         24 . The catheter according to  claim 20 , wherein each ablation device further comprises a plurality of through holes and wherein the flexible lumen member includes at least one lumen extending from the proximal end of the flexible lumen member to the through holes on each of the ablation devices thereby forming a fluidic connection from the proximal portion of the flexible lumen member to the through holes. 
     
     
         25 . The catheter according to  claim 20 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion is biased to an annular ring shape having a diameter between 25 mm and 45 mm. 
     
     
         26 . The catheter according to  claim 20 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion is biased to an annular ring shape having a diameter in the range of 12 mm to 40 mm. 
     
     
         27 . The catheter according to  claim 26 , wherein the tissue-contacting ablation portion has a length sized and is biased to an annular ring shape that is less than a full circle.