Abstract: Provided herein are systems, devices, assemblies, and methods for generating exciter signals, for example, to activate a remotely located tag. The systems, devices, assemblies, and methods find use in a variety of application including medical applications for the locating of a tag in a subject.

Abstract: Provided herein are systems, devices, assemblies, and methods for generating exciter signals, for example, to activate a remotely located tag. The systems, devices, assemblies, and methods find use in a variety of application including medical applications for the locating of a tag in a subject.

Abstract: A method of performing denervation with a cooled microwave denervation catheter assembly includes advancing a catheter body over a guide wire in a body lumen of a patient to a treatment location adjacent targeted nerves, with the guide wire being located in an interior lumen of the catheter body, inflating the balloon with cooling fluid to contact a wall of the body lumen of the patient, removing the guide wire from the interior lumen of the catheter body, and inserting a microwave antenna catheter into the interior lumen of the catheter body, so that denervation treatment may be performed by simultaneously circulating cooling fluid in the balloon and supplying power to the microwave antenna, to cause the targeted nerves to be heated to a temperature sufficient to cause thermal damage while the wall of the body lumen is maintained at a temperature where thermal damage does not occur.

Abstract: A method of performing denervation with a cooled microwave denervation catheter assembly includes advancing a catheter body over a guide wire in a body lumen of a patient to a treatment location adjacent targeted nerves, with the guide wire being located in an interior lumen of the catheter body, inflating the balloon with cooling fluid to contact a wall of the body lumen of the patient, removing the guide wire from the interior lumen of the catheter body, and inserting a microwave antenna catheter into the interior lumen of the catheter body, so that denervation treatment may be performed by simultaneously circulating cooling fluid in the balloon and supplying power to the microwave antenna, to cause the targeted nerves to be heated to a temperature sufficient to cause thermal damage while the wall of the body lumen is maintained at a temperature where thermal damage does not occur.

Abstract: A cooled microwave denervation catheter includes a catheter body having at least one fluid passage and an interior lumen therein, a balloon in communication with the at least one fluid passage to receive cooling fluid to inflate the balloon, and a microwave antenna catheter configured to be inserted into the interior lumen of the catheter body. The microwave antenna catheter has a distal end configured to engage a taper of the interior lumen, thereby positioning the microwave antenna in a desired location of the interior lumen.

Abstract: A pressure sensing device includes a body portion, a pressure transmitting port, and an electrical lead. The body portion includes transducing electronics within a housing that is shaped about a longitudinal axis. The housing has a coating thereon that promotes tissue growth to anchor the housing within a ventricular septum. The pressure transmitting port is located at a distal longitudinal end of the body portion such that a ventricle pressure being sensed is transmitted through the port and to the transducing electronics when the body portion is anchored in the ventricular septum. The electrical lead is connected to the transducing electronics and exits from a proximal longitudinal end of the body portion.

Abstract: A thermal therapy catheter for preferentially treating tissue adjacent to a body lumen includes a catheter shaft that is insertable into the body lumen. An energy-emitting element is carried by the catheter shaft, and is operable to radiate a generally symmetrical energy pattern. The catheter shaft includes a plurality of cooling lumens around the energy-emitting element, configured for circulation of a fluid therethrough. An attenuating element is located in at least one of the plurality of cooling lumens and is arranged to modify the generally symmetrical energy pattern radiated by the energy-emitting element to deliver an asymmetrical energy pattern to the tissue adjacent to the body lumen.

Abstract: A tissue ablation device includes a catheter shaft having an antenna lumen, an impedance-matched microwave antenna carried in the antenna lumen of the catheter shaft, at least one cooling lumen in the catheter shaft around the antenna lumen for circulation of cooling fluid, and a microwave generator operatively coupled to the antenna for energizing the antenna to create a lesion in the targeted tissue around the catheter shaft having a controlled location and size. In an exemplary embodiment, a tip is attached to an end of the catheter shaft for penetrating the tissue targeted for treatment. The device is effective for laparascopic or percutaneous procedures to treat tissues such as the kidney.

Abstract: A method for treating an individual with diseased prostatic tissue, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, includes inserting a catheter into a urethra to position a microwave antenna located within the catheter adjacent a prostatic region of the urethra. A microwave antenna is then driven within a power range for applying microwave energy substantially continuously to prostatic tissue to heat the prostatic tissue surrounding the microwave antenna at a temperature and for a time period sufficient to cause necrosis of the prostatic tissue.

Abstract: A catheter shaft carries a coaxial cable, the terminal end of which contains a dipole antenna with opposing first and second helical elements. The first and second helical elements originate from a common connection to an outer conductor of the coaxial cable. The first and second helical elements are formed by winding flat wire around an outer insulator of the coaxial cable near a terminal end of the coaxial cable. A tubular-shaped capacitor is connected between an inner conductor of the coaxial cable and a point on the second helical element where the resistive component of the antenna's impedance matches the characteristic impedance of the coaxial cable. This match minimizes reflective losses of the antenna, thereby maximizing power transfer to the antenna. The antenna has an effective electrical length which is equal to one half the wavelength of the radiation emitted, independent of the physical length of the antenna.