Image Number 4 for United States Patent #6740083.
Distal catheter assemblies, catheters, and methods for minimizing damage to heat and/or magnetically sensitive components are provided. A distal catheter assembly comprises a housing having a cavity and a proximal mounting member. The sensitive component, e.g., a magnetic sensor, is mounted within the cavity of the housing, and another component, e.g., a steering assembly or RF wire, is mounted to the proximal mounting member. If the proximal mounting member is hollow, it may have a window to provide access to the inner surface of the proximal mounting member to facilitate mounting of the other component. The proximal mounting member extends proximally from the sensitive component, thereby minimizing any adverse effects on the sensitive component that may otherwise result from mounting the other component in close proximity to the sensitive component. In the preferred embodiment, the housing forms a cap-shaped head and a cylindrical neck section, with the head forming an ablation electrode. In this case, the head can further include a channel for mounting a thermistor therein. The distal catheter assembly can be mounted to the distal end of a catheter tube to form a fully functioning catheter.
|
