RADIOMETRIC TISSUE CONTACT AND TISSUE TYPE DETECTION
Radiometric systems may comprise a radiometer, an antenna and a processor communicatively coupled together. The processor may provide a contact-focused output based on filtering or other processing of a raw radiometric output signal. The contact-focused output may facilitate determination of whether contact has been achieved and/or assessment of contact. A miniaturized reflectometer may be configured to determine an amount of reflected power from the antenna. The processor may be configured to determine a reflection coefficient of the reflected power determined by the reflectometer and to identify tissue type based on the reflection coefficient. Systems and methods for facilitating deeper temperature measurements of a radiometer are described.
1 . A method of determining contact between an energy delivery device and tissue prior to and during energy delivery, the method comprising:
receiving raw signal data from a radiometer;
determining a level of contact from the raw signal data by filtering the raw signal data with a moving average filter and then subtracting the moving average filter output from the raw signal data; and
causing an indication indicative of quality of contact to be output to a display based on the determined level of contact.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the moving average filter output comprises a 5-point moving average.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a color indicative of the quality of tissue contact, textual information, and quantitative information.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the indication comprises quantitative information including a percentage of electrode surface contact.
5 . A system for facilitating determination of quality of contact between an energy delivery member of a medical instrument and tissue during energy delivery, the system comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive an output signal from a radiometer carried by the medical instrument;
determine whether a variability in the output signal is within a threshold range; and
generate an action signal to cause an action if the variability in the output signal is outside of the threshold range.
6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the variability determination is performed by calculating a slope of at least a portion of the output signal.
7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the variability determination is performed at a regular interval.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the interval is between 0.1 and 2 seconds.
9 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the action includes at least one selected from a group consisting of a user alert, termination of energy delivery by the energy delivery member of the medical instrument, and an adjustment to one or more parameters of the energy delivery.
10 - 20 . (canceled)