Ablation and high-resolution mapping catheter system for pulmonary vein foci elimination

摘要

A catheter system includes an outer catheter having a lumen and an inner catheter sized to fit within and slide through the lumen of the outer catheter. Both catheters may be introduced into an anatomical site through a single introduction path. At the distal-end region of each catheter is an electrode system. One electrode system is for mapping the site; the other is for ablating the site. The distal-end regions of one or both of the catheters may be linear shaped, circular shaped, or radially expandable. When the catheter system is deployed the electrode systems carried by the distal-end regions of the mapping catheter and the ablation catheter are movable relative to each other and tend to lie in planes substantially parallel to each other. Another catheter system includes two separate electrode systems on a single expandable member shaped so that both electrode systems come in contact with separate sites.