Abstract: A method of cancer hyperthermia therapy includes placing a device including an exogenously-excitable polymeric material at a cancer hyperthermia therapy site of a patient. The method also includes supplying an exogenous energy to the device such that the exogenous energy excites the exogenously-excitable polymeric material at the cancer hyperthermia therapy site to heat the cancer hyperthermia therapy site to a hyperthermia temperature. A method of preparing a polymeric material includes combining an alcohol monomer, a seed of the polymeric material, and an aqueous liquid in a vessel. The method also includes adding an acid monomer to the vessel and supplying an exogenous energy to the vessel. The polymeric material is exogenously excited by the exogenous energy to heat the polymeric material. The method further includes removing water from the vessel and producing the polymeric material, which is a polyester, in the vessel.

Abstract: Retrieval of material from vessel lumens can be improved by electrically enhancing attachment of the material to the removal device. The removal device can have a core assembly that includes a hypotube coupled to a first electrical terminal and a pushwire coupled to a second electrical terminal, the pushwire extending through the hypotube lumen. An insulating layer separates the hypotube and the pushwire, and an interventional element is coupled to a distal end of the pushwire. The interventional element can be disposed adjacent to a thrombus. An electrical signal is delivered to the interventional element to promote adhesion of the thrombus to the interventional element. The electrical signal can optionally be a periodic waveform, and the total energy delivered can be between 0.75-24,000 mJ and the peak current delivered via the electrical signal can be between 0.5-5 mA.

Abstract: A medical device that includes a handle, a sheath extending from the handle, and a tool within the sheath and movable relative to the sheath. The handle includes an inner body and an outer body disposed over the inner body. The outer body is movable relative to the inner body. The handle includes a first actuator secured to the tool. The first actuator has an actuated state permitting movement of the tool relative to the sheath in response to moving the outer body relative to the inner body. The handle includes a second actuator secured to the sheath. The second actuator has an actuated state permitting movement of the sheath relative to the tool in response to moving the second actuator relative to the outer body. An unactuated state of the first actuator and an unactuated state of the second actuator prevents movement of the tool relative to the sheath.

Abstract: A ceramic guide device includes a columnar ceramic guide including a first portion including a first end, a second portion including a second end and having a smaller diameter than a diameter of the first portion, and a third portion disposed between the first portion and the second portion, the columnar ceramic guide provided with an insertion hole through which a long wire electrode can be inserted from the first end to the second end; and the long wire electrode that penetrates through the insertion hole, the long wire electrode including a first protruding portion projecting from the first end, and a second protruding portion projecting from the second end.

Abstract: Low power MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) radiation is used to non-invasively record molecular activity in a biological object such as a brain. Low power MASER radiation is also used to neuromodulate molecular targets via Rabi coupling, resulting for example in conformational and function change in specific molecular targets such as ligand-gated ion channels, voltage-gated ion channels, G-proteins, or dopamine receptors. The method can be used to change the energy state of targeted molecules via energization or enervation, or to ablate targeted molecules.

Abstract: A system for electrophysiological measurement includes a probe having a distal end configured for insertion into a body cavity of a living subject and including an array of electrodes that are disposed along the distal end and are configured to contact tissue at multiple locations within the body cavity. A processor is configured to acquire signals from the electrodes over a period of time during which the probe moves within the body cavity, to compute, in response the signals, metrics that are indicative of a respective quality of contact between each of the electrodes and the tissue over the period of time, and to output an indication of the metrics to a user of the system.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a catheter shaft assembly and an end effector positioned at a distal end of the catheter shaft assembly. The end effector includes a balloon, one or more electrodes on the balloon, and a tip assembly at a distal end of the balloon. The balloon defines an interior configured to receive a fluid to inflate the balloon. The balloon is sized and configured to fit within a cardiovascular anatomical structure. The tip assembly includes a pressure relief valve that is configured to transition between a sealing state and a pressure-relieving state. In the sealing state, the pressure relief valve is configured to prevent fluid from leaking out from the interior of the balloon via the pressure relief valve. In the pressure-relieving state, the pressure relief valve is configured to provide a path for fluid to leak from the interior of the balloon via the pressure relief valve.

Abstract: A flexible catheter includes an elongated body, and a sensor. The elongated body has proximal and distal end portions and defines a working channel therethrough. The sensor is disposed in the distal end portion of the elongated body and is adapted for detecting the position of a distal end of the elongated body within the anatomy of a patient. The sensor is formed from a wire that forms a first layer of wraps about the distal end portion of the elongated body and that includes first and second leads that form a twisted pair proximal to the first layer of wraps. The twisted pair of the first and second leads extends to the proximal end portion of the elongated body.

Abstract: A device, system, and method for mapping myocardial tissue, such as epicardial tissue on the right ventricle. A system for mapping myocardial tissue may include a mapping device having a distal portion that includes a distal assembly sized and configured to be positioned within the pericardial space. The distal assembly may include an expandable shell, at least one inflatable or expandable element within the expandable shell, and a mapping electrode assembly. Inflation or expansion of the at least one inflatable or expandable element, and therefore expansion of the expandable shell, within the pericardial space may provide sufficient force of the mapping electrodes against the myocardial tissue being mapped. The system may also include a delivery sheath with a retention element for controllably retracting the device within the sheath during delivery and removal of the device from the pericardial space.

Abstract: A system for visualizing one or more bubbles formed by a catheter, the system includes a fluid container, a pulse generator, a schlieren imaging assembly, and a processor. The fluid container is configured to: (i) contain a fluid, and (ii) receive into the fluid the catheter having one or more electrodes. The pulse generator is configured to apply one or more pulses to at least one of the electrodes. The schlieren imaging assembly is configured to acquire schlieren images of the bubbles occurring in the fluid when applying the one or more pulses, and the processor is configured to visualize the bubbles using the schlieren images.

Abstract: Disclosed embodiments include apparatuses, systems, and methods for guiding a rotatable actuator along a helical path with a varied pitch to motivate an attached implement. In an illustrative embodiment, an apparatus includes an elongated implement movable along an axis and a rotatable actuator operably coupled with a proximal end of the implement to motivate the implement to move along the axis in response to rotation of the rotatable actuator. A guide is operably coupled with rotatable actuator, where the guide defines a generally helical channel around the axis to direct movement of a rotatable actuator, and wherein a pitch of the helical channel is varied to reduce a distance of travel of the actuator along the axis per unit of rotation of the actuator.

Abstract: The invention generally relates to systems and methods for improving sleep by treating at least one of rhinitis, congestion, and/or rhinorrhea to thereby reduce or eliminate symptoms associated therewith, including, but not limited to, nasal congestion, coughing, sneezing, and nasal or throat irritation and itching.

Abstract: A medical device includes an electrode shaft and an insulation tip. The electrode shaft is configured to deliver energy to a target site and includes an electrode shaft lumen configured to deliver fluid to the target site. The insulation tip is coupled to a distal tip of the electrode shaft. The insulation tip includes an insulation tip lumen fluidly connected to the electrode shaft lumen and configured to deliver fluid to the target site. The insulation tip covers an entirety of the distal tip of the electrode shaft.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a catheter alignment system includes a catheter to be inserted into a body part, and including catheter electrodes to contact tissue at respective locations within the body part, a display, and processing circuitry to receive signals provided by the catheter, assess respective levels of contact of ones of the catheter electrodes with the tissue of the body part responsively to the received signals, find a direction in which the catheter should be moved to improve at least one of the respective levels of contact of at least one of the catheter electrodes responsively to the respective levels of contact of the ones of the catheter electrodes, and render to the display a representation of the catheter responsively to the received signals, and a direction indicator indicating the direction in which the catheter should be moved responsively to the found direction.

Abstract: A medical system includes a catheter, a light source, a detector, a circulator, and a processor. The catheter includes a distal-end assembly for performing a medical operation on tissue in a cavity of an organ of a patient, the distal-end assembly including an optical fiber configured to guide transmitted light to interact with the tissue of the cavity, and to guide returned light that interacted with the tissue. The light source is configured to produce the transmitted light. The detector is configured to measure the returned light. The circulator is configured to couple the transmitted light from the light source to the optical fiber, and to couple the returned light from the optical fiber to the detector. The processor is configured to identify a contact of the distal-end assembly with the tissue based on the returned light measured by the detector, and to indicate the identified contact to a user.

Abstract: A method includes, using anatomical data, calculating multiple cross-sectional shapes of a lumen of an organ in a body of a patient at multiple respective positions on a medial axis of the lumen. One or more of the positions on the medial axis are identified, at which a given expandable frame of a catheter would fit the cross-sectional shapes. The one or more identified positions are presented to a user.

Abstract: A method for preferential system identification (PSID) for modeling neural dynamics of a brain includes extracting behaviorally relevant latent brain states via a projection of future behavior onto past neural activity. The method further includes identifying, based on the extracted latent brain states, model parameters for a linear state space dynamic model of neural activity. An extension of PSID includes accounting for an effect of external inputs to the brain by using oblique projections along the external inputs instead of orthogonal projections. PSID may be extended to apply to any primary signals and secondary signals in place of the neural activity and the behavior. In some embodiments, the extracting and the identifying may be performed using a numerical optimization of recurrent neural networks (RNN) instead of the projection.

Abstract: A catheter US transducer container and method of manufacture thereof including a housing, one or more cooling channels oriented longitudinally along a longitudinal axis of the container, a sealing cooling channel cover, one or more PE elements positioned on a floor of the cooling channel, the cooling channel having a trapezoid cross section at any point along the PE element.

Abstract: A cryoablation tool has a primary fluid circuit for cryogenically cooling or heating tissue surrounding the distal portion of the cryoablation tool. The primary fluid circuit has a primary-primary heat exchanger facilitating recuperative heat exchange between a high pressure stream of a primary fluid and a low pressure stream of the primary fluid. The cryoablation tool has a secondary fluid circuit having a secondary-secondary heat exchanger for permitting recuperative heat exchange between a high pressure stream of a secondary fluid and a low pressure stream of the secondary fluid. The secondary fluid circuit also has a primary-secondary heat exchanger permitting heat exchange between the high pressure stream of the primary fluid and the low pressure stream of the secondary fluid.

Abstract: Various aspects of the present invention are directed towards apparatuses, systems, and method that may include a tissue ablation system. The tissue ablation system may include an ablation device, an ablation generator, and a controller configured to initiate a pre-ablation procedure in a medium, and during the pre-ablation procedure monitor temperature data and/or power data.