Temperature controlled short duration ablation with multiple electrodes
Apparatus, including a catheter configured to be inserted into an organ of a human body. A plurality of electrodes are deployed on the catheter, the electrodes being configured to transfer radiofrequency (RF) ablation energy to tissue of the organ. The apparatus also includes a power supply configured to supply the RF ablation energy at a level of up to 100 W to each of the plurality of electrodes simultaneously, so as to ablate respective sections of the tissue of the organ in contact with the electrodes.
1. A system comprising:
a power supply configured to supply radiofrequency (RF) ablation energy to each of a plurality of electrodes deployed on a catheter so as to ablate tissue of an organ in contact with a respective one of the plurality of electrodes, each of the plurality of electrodes having a temperature sensor;
a temperature module configured to determine a temperature of the surface of the organ tissue in contact with each of the plurality of electrodes in response to receiving sensing signals from each of the electrode temperature sensors;
one or more processors coupled to the power supply and the temperature module;
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
i) receive a predefined power of RF ablation energy to be delivered by each of the plurality of electrodes, a predefined time duration for delivering the predefined power by each of the plurality of electrodes and a predefined temperature threshold of the surface of the tissue in contact with each of the plurality of electrodes,
ii) identify an active group of the plurality of electrodes to be used for ablation and an inactive group of the plurality of electrodes, wherein a sum of the pre-determined power to be delivered by each electrode in the active group of electrodes does not exceed a maximum power of the power supply,
iii) cause the power supply to continue delivering power to each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has not delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration when the temperature of the tissue in contact with the respective electrode does not exceed the temperature threshold,
iv) cause each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has not delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration to become inactive when the temperature of the tissue in contact with the respective electrode exceeds the temperature threshold,
v) identify, in response to an electrode in the active group of electrodes becoming inactive, an electrode in the inactive group of electrodes to become active such that sum of the pre-determined power to be delivered by each electrode in the active group of electrodes does not exceed the maximum power of the power supply, and
vi) cause each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration to become inactive.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises up to twelve electrodes, and wherein the power supply is configured to provide up to 1.2 kW of radiofrequency power.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the catheter comprises a balloon catheter.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the catheter comprises a basket catheter.
5. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a processor coupled to a power supply and a temperature module, a predefined power of radiofrequency (RF) ablation energy to be delivered by each of a plurality of electrodes deployed on a catheter, a predefined time duration for delivering the predefined power by each of the plurality of electrodes and a predefined temperature threshold of a surface of organ tissue in contact with a respective one of the plurality of electrodes, the temperature module being configured to determine a temperature of the tissue surface in in contact with each of the plurality of electrodes in response to receiving sensing signals from temperature sensors in each of the plurality of electrodes, respectively;
identifying an active group of the plurality of electrodes to be used for ablation and an inactive group of the plurality of electrodes, wherein a sum of the pre-determined power to be delivered by each electrode in the active group of electrodes does not exceed a maximum power of the power supply;
causing the power supply to continue delivering power to each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has not delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration when the temperature of the tissue in contact with the respective electrode does not exceed the temperature threshold;
causing each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has not delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration to become inactive when the temperature of the tissue in contact with the respective electrode exceeds the temperature threshold;
identifying, in response to an electrode in the active group of electrodes becoming inactive, an electrode in the inactive group of electrodes to become active such that sum of the pre-determined power to be delivered by each electrode in the active group of electrodes does not exceed the maximum power of the power supply; and
causing each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration to become inactive.
6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises up to twelve electrodes, and wherein the power supply is configured to provide up to 1.2 kW of radiofrequency power.
7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the catheter comprises a balloon catheter.
8. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the catheter comprises a basket catheter.
9. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein to be executed by one or more processors coupled to a power supply and a temperature module, the program code including instructions to:
receive a predefined power of radiofrequency (RF) ablation energy to be delivered by each of a plurality of electrodes deployed on a catheter, a predefined time duration for delivering the predefined power by each of the plurality of electrodes and a predefined temperature threshold of a surface of organ tissue in contact with a respective one of the plurality of electrodes, the temperature module being configured to determine a temperature of the tissue surface in in contact with each of the plurality of electrodes in response to receiving sensing signals from temperature sensors in each of the plurality of electrodes, respectively;
identify an active group of the plurality of electrodes to be used for ablation and an inactive group of the plurality of electrodes, wherein a sum of the pre-determined power to be delivered by each electrode in the active group of electrodes does not exceed a maximum power of the power supply;
cause the power supply to continue delivering power to each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has not delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration when the temperature of the tissue in contact with the respective electrode in the active group of electrodes does not exceed the temperature threshold;
cause each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has not delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration to become inactive when the temperature of the tissue in contact with the respective electrode in the active group of electrodes exceeds the temperature threshold;
identify, in response to an electrode in the active group of electrodes becoming inactive, an electrode in the inactive group of electrodes to become active such that sum of the pre-determined power to be delivered by each electrode in the active group of electrodes does not exceed the maximum power of the power supply; and
cause each electrode in the active group of electrodes that has delivered the predefined power for the predefined time duration to become inactive.
10. The computer program product according to claim 9 , wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises up to twelve electrodes, and wherein the power supply is configured to provide up to 1.2 kW of radiofrequency power.
11. The computer program product according to claim 9 , wherein the catheter comprises a balloon catheter.
12. The computer program product according to claim 9 , wherein the catheter comprises a basket catheter.