Ablation Catheter with Ultrasound Transducers for Lesion Assessment and an Ablation Method

摘要

An ablation catheter (10) includes a body (12) having a distal end (16), a hollow tip (22) attached to the distal end and an ultrasound transducer assembly positioned within the hollow tip and mounted to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the catheter body. The hollow tip includes an acoustically transparent shell, which allows acoustic energy to pass to and from the ultrasound transducer assembly, and an electrically-conductive coating on its exterior surface, which allows ablating energy to be delivered to an adjacent tissue. A plurality of ribs extend inwardly from an inner surface of the shell. A system (100) incorporating the ablation catheter and methods of using the same to ablate, image and/or monitor tissue are also disclosed.