ARTERIAL MICROWAVE APPLICATOR WITH COOLING

摘要

A catheter (28) is adapted for insertion into a cardiovascular environment such as a cardiac chamber (14) of the heart (10) and includes a microwave antenna (34), a cooling lumen structure (76A, 76B, 78A, 78B), and an inflatable cooling balloon (36). The microwave antenna (34) delivers necrosing levels of microwave energy to deseased cardiac tissue (20) spaced from the catheter (28). The cooling lumen structure surrounds the antenna (34) and cools tissues (16) immediately surrounding the catheter (28) while selectively absorbing microwave energy emitted by the antenna (34) to achieve a preferential heating pattern in the cardiac tissue (20) spaced from the catheter (28). The cooling balloon (36) of the catheter (28) is positioned adjacent the antenna (34) and partially surrounds the cooling lumen structure (78A, 78B) on one side (62) of the catheter (28) to provide additional cooling capability and additional microwave energy absorption on the side of the catheter opposite the diseased cardiac tissue (20) to prevent unwanted heating of blood within the cardiac chamber (14).