Systems and methods for lesion formation and assessment

1. A catheter for visualizing ablated tissue comprising:

a catheter body;

a distal tip positioned at a distal end of the catheter body, the distal tip defining an illumination cavity, the distal tip having one or more openings for exchange of light energy between the illumination cavity and tissue;

a light directing member having a plurality of facets being adjacent to one another and being angled with respect to one another to form a front face and disposed within the illumination cavity, the plurality of facets of the light directing member being spaced away from the one or more openings to reflect the light energy to and from the tissue through the one or more openings in the distal tip.

2. The catheter of claim 1 , further comprising one or more optical fibers extending into the illumination cavity to deliver the light energy to and from the illumination cavity.

3. The catheter of claim 1 , wherein the distal tip further comprises a fiber aligner configured to align the one or more optical fibers with a central axis of the light directing member.

4. The catheter of claim 1 , wherein the light directing member and the one or more openings are configured to enable illumination of the tissue by the light energy in a radial direction and an axial direction with respect to a longitudinal axis of the catheter.

5. The catheter of claim 1 , wherein the one or more openings are disposed along side walls of the distal tip and the light directing member is shaped to direct the light energy at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the catheter through the one or more openings.

6. The catheter of claim 5 , wherein the light directing member comprises one or more through-holes and the distal tip comprises one or more openings disposed on a front wall of the distal tip to enable passage of the light energy in longitudinal direction through the light directing member and the one or more openings of the front wall.

7. The catheter of claim 5 , wherein the light directing member is aligned with the one or more openings to reflect light only through the one or more openings.

8. The catheter of claim 1 , wherein the one or more openings are disposed circumferentially along the distal tip and are spaced apart from one another by equal distance and the plurality of facets of the light directing member are equally spaced and are in alignment with the one or more openings.

9. The catheter of claim 1 , wherein the distal tip is configured to deliver ablation energy to the tissue, the ablation energy being selected from a group consisting of radiofrequency (RF) energy, microwave energy, electrical energy, electromagnetic energy, cryoenergy, laser energy, ultrasound energy, acoustic energy, chemical energy, thermal energy and combinations thereof.

10. The catheter of claim 1 , further comprising an ultrasound transducer.

11. A system for visualizing ablated tissue comprising:

a catheter comprising a catheter body; a distal tip positioned at a distal end of the catheter body, the distal tip defining a illumination cavity, the distal tip having one or more openings for exchange of light energy between the illumination cavity and tissue; a light directing member having a plurality of facets being adjacent to one another and being angled with respect to one another to form a front face and disposed within the illumination cavity, the plurality of facets of the light directing member being spaced away from the one or more openings to reflect the light energy to and from the tissue through the one or more openings in the distal tip;

a light source;

a light measuring instrument; and

one or more optical fibers in communication with the light source and the light measuring instrument and extending through the catheter body into the illumination cavity of the distal tip, wherein the one or more optical fibers are configured to pass light energy from the light source to the light directing member for illuminating tissue outside the distal tip and the one or more optical fibers are configured to relay light energy reflected from the tissue to the light measuring instrument.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the distal tip further comprises a fiber aligner configured to align the one or more optical fibers with a central axis of the light directing member.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the light directing member and the one or more openings are configured to enable illumination of the tissue by the light energy in a radial direction and an axial direction with respect to a longitudinal axis of the catheter.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more openings are disposed along side walls of the distal tip and the light directing member is shaped to reflect the light energy at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the catheter through the one or more openings.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the light directing member comprises one or more through-holes and the distal tip comprises one or more openings disposed on a front wall of the distal tip to enable passage of the light energy in longitudinal direction through the light directing member and the one or more openings of the front wall.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more openings are disposed circumferentially along the distal tip and are spaced apart from one another by equal distance and the plurality of facets of the light directing member are equally spaced facets in alignment with the one or more openings.

17. The system of claim 11 , further comprising an ultrasound transducer.

18. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a source of ablation energy in communication with the distal tip to deliver ablation energy to the tissue, the ablation energy being selected from a group consisting of radiofrequency (RF) energy, microwave energy, electrical energy, electromagnetic energy, cryoenergy, laser energy, ultrasound energy, acoustic energy, chemical energy, thermal energy and combinations thereof.

19. A method for visualizing ablated tissue comprising:

advancing a catheter to a cardiac tissue in need of ablation, the catheter comprising a catheter body; a distal tip positioned at a distal end of the catheter body, the distal tip defining a illumination cavity, the distal tip having one or more openings for exchange of light between the illumination cavity and tissue; a light directing member having a plurality of facets being adjacent to one another and being angled with respect to one another to form a front face and disposed within the illumination cavity, the plurality of facets of the light directing member being spaced away from the one or more openings to reflect the light to and from the tissue through the one or more openings in the distal tip;

causing the light directing member to direct light through the one or more openings in the distal tip of the catheter to excite nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen (NADH) in an area of the cardiac tissue including ablated cardiac tissue and non-ablated cardiac tissue;

collecting light reflected from the cardiac tissue through the one or more openings and directing the collected light to a light measuring instrument;

imaging the area of the cardiac tissue to detect NADH fluorescence of the area of the cardiac tissue; and

producing a display of the imaged, illuminated cardiac tissue, the display illustrating the ablated cardiac tissue as having less fluorescence than non-ablated cardiac tissue.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising ablating tissue with the distal tip prior to imaging the tissue.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising ablating additional non-ablated cardiac tissue identified by distinguishing between the ablated cardiac tissue and the non-ablated cardiac tissue based on the amount of fluorescence.

22. The system of claim 19 , wherein the light directing member and the one or more openings are configured to enable illumination of the cardiac tissue in a radial direction and an axial direction with respect to a longitudinal axis of the catheter.