|Publication number||US8216229 B2|
|Application number||US 13/017,889|
|Publication date||Jul 10, 2012|
|Priority date||May 6, 2003|
|Also published as||EP1620025A1, EP1620025B1, US7025768, US7892231, US20040225286, US20060142755, US20110125147, WO2004100814A1|
|Publication number||017889, 13017889, US 8216229 B2, US 8216229B2, US-B2-8216229, US8216229 B2, US8216229B2|
|Inventors||Christopher J. Elliott|
|Original Assignee||Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (47), Non-Patent Citations (2), Classifications (23), Legal Events (1)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/362,686 filed on Feb. 27, 2006, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,892,231, which itself is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/431,178, filed on May 6, 2003, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,768, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly, to systems and methods for ablating or otherwise treating tissue using electrical energy.
2. Background of the Invention
Tissue may be destroyed, ablated, or otherwise treated using thermal energy during various therapeutic procedures. Many forms of thermal energy may be imparted to tissue, such as radio frequency electrical energy, microwave electromagnetic energy, laser energy, acoustic energy, or thermal conduction.
In particular, radio frequency ablation (RFA) may be used to treat patients with tissue anomalies, such as liver anomalies and many primary cancers, such as cancers of the stomach, bowel, pancreas, kidney and lung. RFA treatment involves destroying undesirable cells by generating heat through agitation caused by the application of alternating electrical current (radio frequency energy) through the tissue.
Various RF ablation devices have been suggested for this purpose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,576 describes an ablation apparatus that includes a plurality of wire electrodes deployable from a cannula. Each of the wires includes a proximal end that is electrically coupled to a generator, and a distal end that may project from a distal end of the cannula. The wires are arranged in an array with the distal ends located generally radially and uniformly spaced apart from the catheter distal end. The wires may be energized in a monopolar or bipolar configuration to heat and necrose tissue within a precisely defined volumetric region of target tissue. Such devices may be used either in open surgical settings, in laparoscopic procedures, and/or in percutaneous interventions.
Generally, ablation therapy uses heat to kill tissue at a target site. The effective rate of tissue ablation is highly dependent on how much of the target tissue is heated to a therapeutic level. In certain situations, complete ablation of target tissue that is adjacent a vessel may be difficult or impossible to perform, since significant bloodflow may draw the produced heat away from the vessel wall, resulting in incomplete necrosis of the tissue surrounding the vessel. This phenomenon, which causes the tissue with greater blood flow to be heated less, and the tissue with lesser blood flow to be heated more, is known as the “heat sink” effect. It is believed that the heat sink effect is more pronounced for ablation of tissue adjacent large vessels that are more than 3 millimeters (mm) in diameter. Due to the increased vascularity of the liver, the heat sink effect may cause recurrence of liver tumors after a radio frequency ablation.
Accordingly, improved systems and methods for ablating tissue would be useful.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a system for treating tissue is provided that includes a probe assembly and/or an embolization actuator. The probe assembly includes a shaft carrying one or more electrodes. In one embodiment, the electrodes are needle electrodes. At least one of the needle electrodes has an electrode lumen. The shaft has a distal end, a proximal end, and a lumen extending between the distal and proximal ends of the shaft. In one embodiment, the probe assembly further includes a cannula having a distal end, a proximal end, and a lumen extending between the distal and proximal ends. The shaft may be slidable within the lumen of the cannula. In one embodiment, the shaft includes a plurality of delivery lumens. In this case, each needle electrode has a lumen that may be in fluid communication with the delivery lumen of the shaft. In another embodiment, the shaft includes a single lumen, and each needle electrode may extend proximally through the entire length of the shaft within the shaft lumen.
The needle electrodes may be used to ablate tissue and/or deliver an occlusion element to a site, such as a vessel. By way of non-limiting examples, the occlusion element may include an embolic coil, liquid embolic, an occlusion balloon, embolic particles, and a filter. In one embodiment, the needle electrodes have sharp distal tips that allow the tubular electrodes to penetrate tissue, such as a wall of a vessel. The probe assembly may further include one or more radio-opaque markers secured to one or all of the needle electrodes.
The embolization actuator may include a variety of devices, the type of which depends on the type of occlusion element used. By way of non-limiting examples, for delivery of embolic coil, the embolization actuator may include an elongate member, such as a guidewire for distally advancing the embolic coil within the electrode lumen. For delivery of liquid embolic, the embolization actuator may include a syringe or a pump for delivering the liquid embolic. For delivery of embolic particles, the embolization actuator may include a plunger. Alternatively, if the embolic particles are delivered within a solution, the embolization actuator may include a syringe, a pump, and/or the solution. Other types of embolization actuator are also described.
The probe assembly may also include an indexer, or a handle member having indexing capability, that is secured to the proximal end of the shaft. The handle allows a user to select which of the needle electrodes is used to deliver the occlusion element. In one embodiment, the handle member may include a port and may be rotated about a longitudinal axis of the tubular member such that the port is in fluid communication with one of the delivery lumens and/or the electrode lumens. The handle member and/or the shaft may include a marker to indicate an orientation or a position of the handle relative to the shaft. One or more occlusion elements may be inserted into the port of the handle, and distally advanced through the lumen of the tubular section and through the lumen of the needle electrode to a site.
In another embodiment, the probe assembly includes an indexer that is placed within the lumen of the shaft. The indexer includes a lumen and may be rotated about a longitudinal axis of the tubular member such that the lumen of the indexer may be in fluid communication with the lumen of one of the needle electrodes. The indexer and/or the shaft may include a marker to indicate an orientation or a position of the indexer relative to the shaft. One or more occlusion elements may be inserted into the lumen of the indexer and distally advanced through the lumen of the needle electrode to a site.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a medical probe assembly includes an elongated shaft, a plurality of tissue penetrating elements carried by the elongated shaft, a port carried by the elongated shaft, and an indexer carried by the elongated shaft. Each of the plurality of tissue penetrating elements includes a lumen. The indexer is configured for selectively placing the port in communication with the lumen of one of the tissue penetrating elements.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a system of occluding blood flow includes a probe assembly having an inlet and a plurality of outlet ports, an indexer configured for selectively placing the inlet port in communication with one of the outlet ports, and an embolization actuator for delivering an occlusion element through the inlet port.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a tissue ablation system includes a probe assembly having one or more ablation electrodes, and an embolization actuator. The one or more electrodes each has a lumen. The embolization actuator is configured to be in communication with at least one of the electrode lumens.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for treating tissue at a treatment region. The method of treating tissue includes inserting an occlusion electrode through a wall of the vessel, delivering an occlusion element from the electrode into a lumen of the vessel to at least partially occlude the flow of blood through the vessel, and delivering ablation energy to the tissue while the vessel is at least partially occluded.
Other aspects and features of the invention will be evident from reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, which are intended to illustrate, not limit, the invention.
The drawings illustrate the design and utility of preferred embodiments of the present invention, in which similar elements are referred to by common reference numerals. In order to better appreciate how advantages and objects of the present inventions are obtained, a more particular description of the present inventions briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered limiting its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings.
Referring specifically now to
The shaft 20, which may be a surgical probe shaft, comprises a distal end 22 and a proximal end 24. Like the cannula 12, the shaft 20 is composed of a suitable material, such as plastic, metal or the like. It can be appreciated that longitudinal translation of the shaft 20 relative to the cannula 12 in a distal direction 40 deploys the needle electrodes 26 from the distal end 14 of the cannula 12 (
In the illustrated embodiment, the proximal ends 62 of the electrodes 26 are secured to the distal end 22 of the shaft 20, e.g., by a weld, brazing, a glue, or other suitable adhesive, depending on the materials from which the electrode 26 and the shaft 20 are made. Each of the electrodes 26 comprises a lumen 64 that is in communication with a respective lumen 72 of the shaft 20, and an opening or outlet port 68 from which an occlusive element 9 may exit, as will be described in further detail below.
Each of the individual needle electrodes 26 is in the form of a small diameter metal element, which can penetrate into tissue as it is advanced from a target site within the target region. When deployed from the cannula 12, the array 27 of needle electrodes 26 is placed in a three-dimensional configuration that usually defines a generally ellipsoidal or spherical volume having a periphery with a maximum radius in the range from 0.5 to 3 cm. The needle electrodes 26 are resilient and pre-shaped to assume a desired configuration when advanced into tissue. In the illustrated embodiment, the needle electrodes 26 diverge radially outwardly from the cannula 12 in a uniform pattern, i.e., with the spacing between adjacent needle electrodes 26 diverging in a substantially uniform and/or symmetric pattern. In the illustrated embodiment, the needle electrodes 26 also evert proximally, so that they face partially or fully in the proximal direction when fully deployed. In exemplary embodiments, pairs of adjacent needle electrodes 26 can be spaced from each other in similar or identical, repeated patterns and can be symmetrically positioned about an axis of the shaft 20. It will be appreciated that a wide variety of particular patterns can be provided to uniformly cover the region to be treated. It should be noted that although a total of six needle electrodes 26 are illustrated in
Each individual needle electrode 26 is preferably composed of a single tubular wire that may be composed from a variety of elastic materials. Very desirable materials of construction, from a mechanical point of view, are materials which maintain their shape despite being subjected to high stress. Certain “super-elastic alloys” include nickel/titanium alloys, copper/zinc alloys, or nickel/aluminum alloys. Alloys that may be used are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,174,851, 3,351,463, and 3,753,700, the disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference. The needle electrode 26 may also be made from any of a wide variety of stainless steels. The needle electrode 26 may also include the Platinum Group metals, especially platinum, rhodium, palladium, rhenium, as well as tungsten, gold, silver, tantalum, and alloys of these metals. These metals are largely biologically inert. They also have significant radiopacity to allow the needle electrodes 26 to be visualized in-situ, and their alloys may be tailored to accomplish an appropriate blend of flexibility and stiffness. They may be coated onto the needle electrodes 26 or be mixed with another material used for construction of the needle electrodes 26. The needle electrodes 26 may have circular or non-circular cross-sections, but preferably have rectilinear cross-sections. In this manner, the needle electrodes 26 are generally stiffer in the transverse direction and more flexible in the radial direction. By increasing transverse stiffness, proper circumferential alignment of the needle electrodes 26 within the lumen 18 of the cannula 12 is enhanced. Exemplary needle electrodes will have a width (in the circumferential direction) in the range from 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm, preferably from 0.35 mm to 0.40 mm, and a thickness (in the radial direction) in the range from 0.05 mm to 0.3 mm, preferably from 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm.
The distal ends 60 of the needle electrodes 26 may be honed or sharpened to facilitate their ability to penetrate tissue. The distal ends 60 of these needle electrodes 26 may be hardened using conventional heat treatment or other metallurgical processes. They may be partially covered with insulation, although they will be at least partially free from insulation over their distal portions.
The needle electrodes 26 are electrically coupled to the distal end 22 of the shaft 20. This can be accomplished in a variety of manners, but in the illustrated embodiment, the electrodes 26 are coupled to the end 22 of the shaft 20 via intermediate electrical conductors, such as wires (not shown), that can be disposed within a wall, main lumen 25 or delivery lumens 72 of the shaft 20. Alternatively, the shaft 20 and any component between the shaft 20 and the needle electrodes 26, are composed of an electrically conductive material, such as stainless steel, and may therefore conveniently serve as intermediate electrical conductors. Even more alternatively, the needle electrodes 26 may proximally extend the entire distance of the shaft 20, in which case, the delivery lumens 72 may not be necessary.
Each electrode 26 may also include a radio-opaque marker 66 and/or a sensor (not shown) carried at the distal end 60 of the electrode 26. The sensor may be used to sense a characteristic, such as the impedance or the temperature, of tissue being ablated. In one embodiment, each electrode 26 may have a radio-opaque marker having a different configuration (i.e., shape, geometry, size) that is different from others. This allows identification of the electrodes 26.
In the illustrated embodiment, the RF current is delivered to the electrode array 27 in a monopolar fashion, which means that current will pass from the electrode array 27, which is configured to concentrate the energy flux in order to have an injurious effect on the surrounding tissue, and a dispersive electrode (not shown), which is located remotely from the electrode array 27 and has a sufficiently large area (typically 130 cm2 for an adult), so that the current density is low and non-injurious to surrounding tissue. In the illustrated embodiment, the dispersive electrode may be attached externally to the patient, e.g., using a contact pad placed on the patient's flank. In a monopolar arrangement, the needle electrodes 26 are bundled together with their proximal portions having only a single layer of insulation over the cannula 12.
Alternatively, the RF current is delivered to the electrode array 27 in a bipolar fashion, which means that current will pass between two electrodes (“positive” and “negative” electrodes). In a bipolar arrangement, the positive and negative needle electrodes will be insulated from each other in any regions where they would or could be in contact with each other during the power delivery phase.
In another embodiment, instead of coupling the handle member 28 to the shaft 20 using the recess 103 and the protrusion 104, the handle member 28 may be configured to slidably engage the shaft 20. In this case, the shaft 20 may include a plurality of slots disposed on the exterior surface of the shaft 20, and the handle member 28 may include an indexing key that can mate with the respective slots on the shaft 20 as the handle member 28 is axially advanced relative to the shaft 20. Such indexing feature allows better alignment of the delivery port 100 with a desired shaft lumen 72. Angle indexing devices that may be used include those described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/317,796, entitled “Angle Indexer For Medical Devices”, the entire disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein. In another embodiment, the handle member 28 may also include a locking mechanism (not shown) to temporarily lock against the shaft 20 to provide a more stable indexing. For example, the locking mechanism may include an axially-sliding clutch assembly that is slidable along an axis of the shaft 20 to thereby secure the handle member 28 against the shaft 20. Other securing devices known in the art may also be used.
Referring back to
Further details regarding needle electrode array-type probe arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,353, entitled “Apparatus and Method for Treating Tissue with Multiple Electrodes,” which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.
As previously described, the system 2 is designed to deliver one or more occlusive elements 9 within a blood vessel. The specific design of the needle electrodes 26 (e.g., the cross-section of the needle electrodes 26) and the embolization actuator 8 will depend upon the occlusive elements 9 that are to be delivered within the blood vessel.
It should be noted that the occlusion element 9 that may be delivered by the needle electrode 26 should not be limited to the examples discussed previously, and that other occlusion elements may also be used so long as they are capable of at least partially occluding a site, such as a vessel.
Referring now to
After the cannula 12 is properly placed, the shaft 20 is distally advanced to deploy the electrode array 27 radially outward from the distal end 14 of the cannula 12, as shown in
As shown in
After the distal end 60 of one of the electrodes 26 is placed within the lumen of the vessel V, the delivery port 100 is aligned with the delivery lumen 72 corresponding to the lumen 64 of the electrode 26 that has been placed within the vessel V. Specifically, if the handle member 28 is used, the handle member 28 may be rotated about a longitudinal axis of the shaft 20 to align the port 100 with one of the delivery lumens 72 or with one of the electrode lumens 64, which corresponds to the electrode 26 placed within the lumen of the vessel V. If the indexer 208 is used, the indexer 208 may be rotated about a longitudinal axis of the shaft 201 to align the lumen 214 of the indexer 208 with the electrode lumens 64 which corresponds to the electrode 26 placed within the lumen of the vessel V. A marker located at the handle member 28 (or the indexer 208) and/or the shaft 20 (or 201) may be used to indicate the orientation or position of the handle member 28 (or the indexer 208) relative to the shaft 20 (or 201). A contrast agent may be delivered through the port 100 to verify that the position of the port 100 corresponds to the desired needle electrode 26. Radio-opaque markers 66 (if they are provided) carried at the distal ends of the electrodes 26 may also be used to identify the desired electrode 26.
After the desired electrode 26 has been verified, the RF generator 6 is then connected to the probe assembly 4 (or 200) via the electrical connector 38. If the system 2 includes the embolization actuator as discussed previously, the embolization actuator may also be connected to the delivery port 100 of the handle member 28 for delivery of the occlusion element 9 through the delivery port 100, through the indexed shaft lumen 72, and then out through the lumen 64 of the electrode 26 (
The insertion of the occlusion element into the vessel V reduces or prevents substantial blood flow through the vessel V, thereby reducing the possibility that bloodflow may draw produced heat away from the vessel wall during ablation of the treatment region TR. Any of the occlusion elements discussed previously may be used. The occlusion of the vessel V may or may not be permanent. For example, one or more embolic coils 160, liquid embolic 168, occlusion balloon 174 that is detachable, and/or the embolic particles 170 may be delivered to the vessel V to permanently occlude the vessel V. Alternatively, occlusion balloon 174 that is non-detachable, filter 182, bioabsorable agents, or tethered coils may be used to temporarily occlude the vessel V.
After the vessel V has been desirably occluded, the RF generator 6 is operated to deliver ablation energy to the needle electrodes 26 either in a unipolar mode or a bipolar mode. As a result, the treatment region TR is necrosed, thereby creating a lesion on the treatment region TR.
In one preferred method, all of the needle electrodes 26 are used to deliver ablation energy. Alternatively, all of the needle electrodes 26 except the one that was used to deliver the occlusion element are used to deliver ablation energy. In this case, the generator 6 may be configured such that it could allow a user to selectively choose which of the needle electrodes 26 to activate.
Because the vessel V adjacent the treatment region TR is occluded, the probe assembly 4 (or 200) allows ablation of the tissue surrounding the vessel V without substantial heat loss, thereby reducing the possibility of having incomplete necrosis of the tissue surrounding the vessel V. In many cases, a single ablation may be sufficient to create a desired lesion. However, if it is desired to perform further ablation to increase the lesion size or to create lesions at different site(s) within the treatment region TR or elsewhere, the needle electrodes 26 may be introduced and deployed at different target site(s), and the same steps discussed previously may be repeated. When a desired lesion at treatment region TR has been created, the needle electrodes 26 are retracted into the lumen 18 of the cannula 12, and the probe assembly 4 is removed from the treatment region TR.
Although particular embodiments of the present inventions have been shown and described, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the present inventions to the preferred embodiments, and it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present inventions. Thus, the present inventions are intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the present inventions as defined by the claims.
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|U.S. Classification||606/41, 606/32|
|International Classification||A61B17/12, A61B18/10, A61B18/14|
|Cooperative Classification||A61B17/12181, A61B17/1214, A61B17/12186, A61B2018/1475, A61B17/12136, A61B18/1492, A61B18/1477, A61B17/12036, A61B2018/143, A61B2017/1205, A61B17/12109|
|European Classification||A61B17/12P7Z1, A61B17/12P7Z, A61B17/12P7B, A61B17/12P1P, A61B17/12P7C, A61B18/14N, A61B17/12P5B|