Expandable elements for delivery of electric fields

Abstract

A method, system, and device for electroporation. A method for electroporating tissue, the method may include positioning a medical device having a plurality of electrodes proximate an area of tissue, delivering electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes with an energy generator, receiving data from the plurality of electrodes, determining whether an alert condition is present based upon the data received from the plurality of electrodes, and at least one of cease a delivery of electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes and prevent the delivery of electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes when a processing circuitry determines that an alert condition is present.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for electroporating tissue, the method comprising:
 positioning a medical device having a plurality of electrodes proximate an area of tissue;   delivering electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes with an energy generator;   receiving data from the plurality of electrodes;   determining whether an alert condition is present based upon the data received from the plurality of electrodes; and   at least one of cease a delivery of electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes and prevent the delivery of electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes when a processing circuitry determines that an alert condition is present.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data includes impedance measurements. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein each electrode from the plurality of electrodes is configured to record at least one impedance measurement, the processing circuitry being configured to receive the at least one impedance measurement from each electrode from the plurality of electrodes and selectively activate at least one of the plurality of electrodes based on the at least one impedance measurement received from each of the plurality of electrodes. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the energy generator is configured to deliver electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes in a sequence of a plurality of energy delivery patterns. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to automatically switch between the plurality of energy delivery patterns at least once. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a mapping system, the energy generator, and the processing circuitry are further configured to selectively connect each electrode from the plurality of electrodes to the mapping system and record intracardiac electrogram signals from each electrode from the plurality of electrodes. 
     
     
         7 . A method for electroporating tissue, the method comprising:
 positioning a medical device having a plurality of electrodes proximate an area of tissue where each electrode from the plurality of electrodes is configured to record impedance signals from an area of tissue and deliver electroporation energy to the area of tissue;   receiving impedance signals from the plurality of electrodes;   identifying at least one electrode from the plurality of electrodes that is in contact with the area of tissue based on the impedance signals received from the plurality of electrodes; and   selectively delivering electroporation energy to each electrode from the plurality of electrodes when at least one electrode from the plurality of electrodes is determined by a processing circuitry to be in contact with the area of tissue.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the impedance signals received from the plurality of electrodes is used by the processing circuitry to determine the distance between each electrode from the plurality of electrodes. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising delivering electroporation energy to each electrode from the plurality of electrodes when the processing circuitry determines that each electrode from the plurality of electrodes is uniformly spaced a distance apart. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein an energy generator is configured to deliver electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes in a plurality of energy delivery patterns. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the energy generator is configured to deliver bipolar electroporation energy between adjacent pairs of electrodes from the plurality of electrodes to the area of tissue. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of energy delivery patterns is a sequence of at least five energy delivery patterns. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the energy generator is configured to deliver monopolar electroporation energy between at least one electrode from the plurality of electrodes to a supplemental electrode. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine whether an alert condition is present based upon the impedance signals received from the plurality of electrodes. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein when the processing circuitry determines the alert is present at least one of cease the delivery of electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes and prevent the delivery of electroporation energy to the plurality of electrodes. 
     
     
         16 . A method for electroporating tissue, the method comprising:
 positioning a medical device with a plurality of electrodes configured to record impedance measurements proximate an area of target tissue, the medical device being configured to:   record impedance measurements from each electrode from the plurality of electrodes;   transmit the recorded impedance measurements to an energy generator;   identify, based on the recorded impedance measurements, at least one electrode from the plurality of electrodes that is in contact with the area of target tissue and that is a predetermined distance from at least one adjacent electrode of the plurality of electrodes; and   deliver electroporation energy to the identified at least one electrode from the plurality of electrodes in a sequence of energy delivery patterns by selectively activating and deactivating each electrode from the plurality of electrodes.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising delivering the sequence of energy delivery patterns such that there is a delay following each energy delivery pattern in the sequence of energy delivery patterns and each energy delivery pattern in the sequence of energy delivery patterns has a duration that is at least as long as a corresponding following delay. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the sequence of energy delivery patterns includes at least five energy delivery patterns. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the energy generator is configured to deliver bipolar electroporation energy between adjacent pairs of electrodes from the plurality of electrodes to the area of tissue. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the energy generator is configured to deliver monopolar electroporation energy between at least one electrode from the plurality of electrodes to a supplemental electrode.