1. A catheter comprising:
an elongated catheter body having a proximal end, a distal end and at least one lumen extending longitudinally therethrough;
a mapping assembly mounted at the distal end of the catheter body and comprising at least two spines, each spine having a proximal end attached at the distal end of the catheter body and a free distal end, wherein each spine comprises a tip electrode and at least one ring electrode; and
an irrigation tube extending through the catheter body and having an open distal end that is in communication with the outside of the distal end of the catheter body.
2. The catheter of claim 1, wherein each spine comprises a tip electrode mounted at or near the distal end of the spine.
3. The catheter of claim 1, wherein each spine further comprises at least one location sensor.
4. The catheter of claim 3, wherein the location sensor is mounted at least partially in the tip electrode on each spine.
5. The catheter of claim 3, wherein the location sensor is mounted at or near the distal end of each spine.
6. The catheter of claim 1, wherein each spine further comprises a location sensor mounted at least partially in the tip electrode.
7. The catheter of claim 1, wherein the mapping assembly is moveable between an expanded arrangement, in which each spine extends radially outward from the catheter body, and a collapsed arrangement, in which each spine is disposed generally along a longitudinal axis of the catheter body.
8. The catheter of claim 7, wherein, when the mapping assembly is in its expanded arrangement, each spine extends radially outwardly from the catheter body and forms a curved shape.
9. The catheter of claim 7, wherein, when the mapping assembly is in its expanded arrangement, each spine extends radially outwardly from the catheter body and forms a substantially straight line.
10. The catheter of claim 9, wherein each spine is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the catheter body.
11. A method for mapping a region of the heart comprising:
introducing the distal end of the catheter of claim 1 into the region of the heart to be mapped;
positioning the mapping assembly so that at least one electrode from each spine is in contact with a first plurality of heart tissue;
recording electrical data from the first plurality of heart tissue;
repositioning the mapping assembly such that at least one electrode from each spine contacts a second different plurality of heart tissue; and
recording electrical data from the second plurality of heart tissue.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the distal end of the catheter is introduced through a guiding sheath having a distal end positioned in the heart so that the spines of the mapping assembly are covered by the guiding sheath.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the positioning and repositioning steps comprise moving the guiding sheath proximally relative to the mapping assembly.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the tip electrode of each spine is mounted at or near the distal end of the spine.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein each spine further comprises at least one location sensor.
16. The method of claim 11, wherein each spine comprises a non-conductive covering having a support arm that has shape memory disposed therein.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein each support arm comprises nitinol.
18. A catheter comprising:
an elongated catheter body having a proximal end, a distal end and at least one lumen extending longitudinally therethrough;
a mapping assembly mounted at the distal end of the catheter body and comprising at lest two spines, each spine having a proximal end attached at the distal end of the catheter body and a free distal end, each spine comprising a non-conductive covering having a support arm that has shape memory disposed therein, wherein each spine comprises at least one electrode; and
an irrigation tube extending through the catheter body and having an open distal end that is in communication with the outside of the distal end of the catheter body.
19. The catheter of claim 18, wherein each support arm comprises nitinol.
20. A method for mapping a region of the heart comprising:
introducing the distal end of the catheter of claim 18 into the region of the heart to be mapped;
positioning the mapping assembly so that at least one electrode from each spine is in contact with a first plurality of heart tissue;
recording electrical data from the first plurality of heart tissue;
repositioning the mapping assembly such that at least one electrode from each spine contacts a second different plurality of heart tissue; and
recording electrical data from the second plurality of heart tissue.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the distal end of the catheter is introduced through a guiding sheath having a distal end positioned in the heart so that the spines of the mapping assembly are covered by the guiding sheath.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the positioning and repositioning steps comprise moving the guiding sheath proximally relative to the mapping assembly.
23. The method of claim 20, wherein each support arm comprises nitinol.
24. A catheter comprising:
an elongated catheter body having a proximal end, a distal end and at least one lumen extending longitudinally therethrough;
a mapping assembly mounted at the distal end of the catheter body and comprising at least two spines, each spine having a proximal end attached at the distal end of the catheter body and a free distal end, each spine comprising a non-conductive covering having a support arm that has shape memory disposed therein, wherein each spine comprises a tip electrode and at least one ring electrode; and
an irrigation tube extending through the catheter body and having an open distal end that is in communication with the outside of the distal end of the catheter body.
25. The catheter of claim 24, wherein each support arm comprises nitinol.
26. A method for mapping a region of the heart comprising:
introducing the distal end of the catheter of claim 24 into the region of the heart to be mapped;
positioning the mapping assembly so that at least one electrode from each spine is in contact with a first plurality of heart tissue;
recording electrical data from the first plurality of heart tissue;
repositioning the mapping assembly such that at least one electrode from each spine contacts a second different plurality of heart tissue; and
recording electrical data from the second plurality of heart tissue.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the distal end of the catheter is introduced through a guiding sheath having a distal end positioned in the heart so that the spines of the mapping assembly are covered by the guiding sheath.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the positioning and repositioning steps comprise moving the guiding sheath proximally relative to the mapping assembly.
29. The method of claim 26, wherein each support arm comprises nitinol.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of aligning at least two medical scan images, comprising:
(a) obtaining a first medical scan image, the first medical scan image having a corresponding first data set;
(b) obtaining a second medical scan image, the second medical scan image having a corresponding second data set;
(c) calculating a joint density, with marginals from the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image;
(d) comparing the first medical scan image with the second medical scan image using an Earth Mover’s Distance; and
(e) aligning the first medical scan image with the second medical scan image with results obtained from the comparing of the first medical scan image with the second medical scan image using the Earth Mover’s Distance.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein image intensity values of the first data set and image intensity values of the second data set are used in estimating the joint density of the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image are magnetic resonance images.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image are computed tomography scan images.
5. A method of aligning at least two images, comprising:
(a) obtaining a first image, the first image having a corresponding first data set;
(b) obtaining a second image, the second having a corresponding second data set;
(c) learning a joint intensity distribution from a pair of prealigned images; and
(d) aligning the first image and the second image by computing Earth Mover’s Distance between their observed joint intensity distribution and the learned joint intensity distribution.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of aligning the first image and the second image by computing Earth Mover’s Distance between their observed joint intensity distribution and the learned joint intensity distribution is accomplished using an Earth Mover’s Distance induced through a formula of
\u03b5b(I1,I2,T)=EMDL1(px1,x2,T,p0).
7. The method according to claim 5, wherein image intensity values of the first data set and image intensity values of the second data set are used in calculating the observed joint intensity distribution of the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image.
8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first image and the second image are magnetic resonance images.
9. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first image and the second image are computed tomography scans.
10. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for aligning at least two medical scan images, comprising:
(a) obtaining a first medical scan image, the first medical scan image having a corresponding first data set;
(b) obtaining a second medical scan image, the second medical scan image having a corresponding second data set;
(c) calculating a joint density, with marginals from the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image;
(d) comparing the first medical scan image with the second medical scan image using an Earth Mover’s Distance; and
(e) aligning the first medical scan image with the second medical scan image with results obtained from the comparing of the first medical scan image with the second medical scan image using the Earth Mover’s Distance.
11. The device according to claim 10, wherein the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image are magnetic resonance images.
12. The device according to claim 10, wherein the first medical scan image and the second medical scan image are computed tomography scans.
13. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for aligning at least two medical scan images, comprising:
(a) obtaining a first image, the first image having a corresponding first data set;
(b) obtaining a second image, the second having a corresponding second data set;
(c) learning a joint intensity distribution from a pair of prealigned images; and
(d) aligning the first image and the second image by computing Earth Mover’s Distance between their observed joint intensity distribution and the learned joint intensity distribution.
14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the first image and the second image are magnetic resonance images.
15. The device according to claim 13, wherein the first image and the second image are computed tomography scans.
16. A method of aligning at least two images, comprising:
(a) obtaining a first image, the first image having a corresponding first data set;
(b) obtaining a second image, the second having a corresponding second data set; and
(c) aligning the first image and the second image by computing Earth Mover’s Distance between their observed joint intensity distribution and the product of its marginals.