#2022031- ABLATION APPARATUS AND METHOD
Beinart Roy, Leonid Sternik, Ehud Raanani
| Categories | Medical Devices |
| Development stage | Early stage, seeking funding to build proof of concept prototype |
| Patent Status | Pending |
Background and Need
Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia encountered by cardiologists and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. With the worldwide aging of the population, an AF epidemic is forecasted within the next 10 to 20 years. It is predicted to affect 6-12 million people in the USA by 2050 and 17.9 Million in Europe by 2060. Ablation of AF has evolved as the main technique to treat patients. In fact, recent studies have shown that patients with congestive heart failure have a mortality benefit of the procedure. Although pulmonary vein (PV) isolation is the generally endorsed approach for those with paroxysmal AF, additional ablations of non PV triggers are usually needed.
Energy sources available for AF ablation include RF, CA, and laser. RF and CA are currently most commonly used. RF creates a lesion with heat (typically up to 50°C) and can be delivered with or without saline irrigation at the tip of the catheter. Irrigated-tip catheters reduce the risk of char formation and improve lesion depth and size; in general, they are the most commonly used catheters for radiofrequency ablation.
New catheters with the ability to quantify the force of contact have recently been developed and appear to give more consistent lesions than previous catheters. CA is administered via a left atrial balloon that occludes each PV individually and freezes to −40°C. Laser ablation is performed with special catheters designed to create a circumferential lesion set around each PV.
Invention
A novel hybrid approach to AF ablation, including unique catheters inserted in a minimally invasive technique.
