CATHETER BALLOON EMPLOYING FORCE SENSING ELEMENTS
An apparatus for medical diagnosis and/or treatment is provides. The apparatus includes a flexible substrate forming an inflatable body and a plurality of force sensing elements disposed on the flexible substrate. The plurality of force sensing elements are disposed about the inflatable body such that the force sensing elements are disposed at areas of minimal curvature of the inflatable body in a deflated state.
1 . A method of fabricating an apparatus for medical diagnosis and/or treatment, the method comprising:
providing a coupling bus that is coupled to a plurality of force sensing elements, each force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements comprising:
two conductive components, disposed substantially parallel to each other; and
an elastic dielectric component disposed between the two conductive components;
disposing the coupling bus about a region of an inflatable body; and
disposing the plurality of force sensing elements about a portion of a circumference of the inflatable body.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting the coupling bus and the plurality of force sensing elements from a carrier substrate prior to disposing the coupling bus about the region of the inflatable body.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of force sensing elements comprises a respective first conductive component and a respective second conductive component, and wherein the disposing the coupling bus about the region of the inflatable body comprises:
applying the respective first conductive component of each of the plurality of force sensing elements to a portion of flexible substrate bus; and
disposing the respective second conductive component substantially parallel to the respective first conductive component of each of the plurality of force sensing elements.
4 . A method of performing a medical diagnosis and/or treatment on a tissue, the method comprising:
disposing in proximity to the tissue an apparatus comprising:
a flexible substrate forming an inflatable body;
a coupling bus; and
a plurality of force sensing elements that are coupled to the coupling bus, each force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements comprising:
two conductive components, disposed substantially parallel to each other; and
an elastic dielectric component disposed between the two conductive components; and
recording an electrical measurement of at least one force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements, wherein the measurement provides an indication of a force applied to the inflatable body.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the measurement provides an indication of a contact state of the portion of the tissue with the at least one force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements.
6 . An apparatus for displaying a representation of measurements of a plurality of force sensing elements disposed about at least a portion of a circumference of an inflatable body during a medical diagnosis and/or treatment of a tissue, the apparatus comprising:
a display;
a memory storing processor-executable instructions; and
one or more processor units to execute the processor-executable instructions,
wherein execution of the processor-executable instructions causes the display to display a plurality of representations of the measurements, and
wherein each representation of the plurality of representations corresponds to a force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements, each force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements comprising:
two conductive components, disposed substantially parallel to each other; and
an elastic dielectric component disposed between the two conductive components.
7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the representation comprises (i) a plurality of first indicators, each first indicator corresponding to a force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements that measures a force below a threshold value, and (ii) a plurality of second indicators, each second indicator corresponding to a force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements that measures a force above the threshold value.
8 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the measurement below the threshold value indicates that the corresponding force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements is not in contact with the tissue.
9 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the measurement above the threshold value indicates that at least a portion of the corresponding force sensing element of the plurality of force sensing elements is in contact with the tissue.
10 . A system for mapping contact with a surface, the system comprising:
an inflatable body;
a plurality of force sensing elements coupled to the inflatable body, each force sensing elements comprising:
two conductive components, disposed substantially parallel to each other; and
an elastic dielectric component disposed between the two conductive components;
an electronic display electrically coupled to the plurality of force sensing elements, the electronic display providing a visual representation of the spatial location of each of the plurality of force sensing elements on the inflatable body, wherein:
the electronic display changes a visual attribute of the visual representation of a respective force sensing element in response to a change in an electrical measurement of the respective force sensing element; and
the change in the electrical measurement identifies a contact condition of the respective force sensing element with respect to the surface.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the visual attribute is a binary representation.
12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the visual attribute is a quantitative representation.