Therapy to treat pelvic floor dysfunction and/or pain
In some examples, the disclosure describes devices, systems, and techniques for treating pain and/or pelvic floor dysfunction of a patient. For example, a method for treating pelvic floor dysfunction in a patient may include delivering, via a medical device, a therapy to one or more nerve fibers, wherein the therapy is configured to at least temporarily deactivate the one or more nerve fibers; and determining that the one or more nerve fibers was at least temporarily deactivated by delivering the therapy.
1. A medical device comprising:
an ablation catheter device including:
a catheter body;
a handle coupled to the catheter body;
an electrode disposed on a distal end of the catheter body, the electrode designed to deliver an ablation therapy; and
a sensor carried by the catheter body, the sensor designed to sense a patient physiologic parameter,
wherein the ablation catheter device is configured to be used to identify one or more target pelvic nerve fibers of a patient based on nerve activity measured by the sensor at the distal end of the catheter body, and
wherein the ablation catheter device is configured to communicate with a processor, the processor configured to:
cause the ablation therapy to be delivered through the electrode to the one or more target pelvic nerve fibers of the patient to treat pelvic floor dysfunction in the patient, wherein the ablation therapy is configured to at least temporarily deactivate the one or more target nerve fibers,
receive from the sensor a sensed patient physiological parameter following delivery of the ablation therapy, and
determine whether the sensed patient physiological parameter exceeds a predetermined threshold indicative of the one or more target pelvic nerve fibers being at least temporarily deactivated by delivery of the ablation therapy;
wherein the processor is configured to identify the one or more target pelvic nerve fibers based on the nerve activity measured by the sensor at the distal end of the catheter body, wherein the one or more target pelvic nerve fibers is a C fiber that exhibits activation associated with one or more undesirable symptoms or pathological manifestations of the pelvic floor disorder of the patient.
2. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the ablation therapy delivered through the electrode comprises radio frequency ablation therapy.
3. The medical device of claim 1 , further comprising a second electrode disposed on the distal end of the catheter body to create a bipolar electrode arrangement.
4. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the patient physiological parameter comprises temperature.
5. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the patient physiological parameter comprises impedance.
6. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the patient physiological parameter associated with the pelvic floor dysfunction is selected from the group consisting of: bladder impedance, bladder pressure, bowel impedance, and bowel pressure.
7. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the patient physiological parameter associated with the pelvic floor dysfunction is selected from the group consisting of: pudendal afferent nerve activity, sacral afferent nerve activity, and muscle activity.
8. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the patient physiological parameter associated with the pelvic floor dysfunction is motion of the patient.
9. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the ablation catheter device is configured to communicate with the processor, the processor configured to identify, based on the nerve activity measured by the sensor the distal end of the catheter body, the C fiber by distinguishing the C fiber from other types of nerve fibers or other non-nerve fiber tissue.