US-12616409-B2 - Three-dimensional display of a multi-electrode catheter and signals acquired over time

US12616409B2US 12616409 B2US12616409 B2US 12616409B2US-12616409-B2

Abstract

A system includes an interface and a processor. The interface is configured to receive, from at least first and second electrodes of a catheter, first and second signals, respectively, which are acquired over at least a time interval by the at least first and second electrodes at an organ of a patient. The processor is configured to produce a three-dimensional (3D) representation of at least a portion of the catheter and first and second traces corresponding to the first and second signals, and the first and second traces are displayed in a 3D space relative to physical positions of the first and second electrodes on the catheter, respectively.

Inventors

Daniel Ghosalker
Meytal Segev
Nir Yanovich
Roy Haim Karny
Alon Ben Natan

Assignees

BIOSENSE WEBSTER (ISRAEL) LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20221122

Claims (14)

1 . A system, comprising: an interface, which is configured to receive, from at least first and second electrodes of a catheter, first and second signals, respectively, which are acquired over at least a time interval by the at least first and second electrodes from a tissue at an organ of a patient, wherein the electrodes are located along one or more splines of the catheter; and a processor configured to produce a three-dimensional (3D) representation of at least a portion of the catheter and first and second traces corresponding to the first and second signals, wherein the first and second traces are displayed in a 3D space relative to physical positions of the first and second electrodes on the catheter, respectively, wherein the processor is configured to display, in the 3D representation, the one or more splines of the catheter comprising the at least the first and second electrodes, wherein the processor is configured to display a plurality of selectable elements corresponding to at least one of (i) the one or more splines, and (ii) the first and second electrodes; and in response to a selection by the user of one or more of the plurality of selectable elements, the processor is configured to toggle the display of at least one of: (i) the one or more splines, and (ii) the first and second electrodes corresponding to the selectable elements in the 3D representation, and wherein the processor is further configured to toggle the display of at least one of the first and second traces responsively to toggling the display of at least one of the first and second electrodes, respectively.
2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second traces are displayed along first and second time axes respective to the first and second signals, the first time axis extending orthogonally to the spline comprising the first electrode, and the second time axis extending orthogonally to the spline comprising the second electrode.
3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to rotate the 3D representation in response to instructions received from a user.
4 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to produce a two-dimensional (2D) representation of at least first and second electrograms indicative of at least the first and second signals, and wherein, in response to the selection by the user, the processor is configured to toggle the display of at least one of the first and second electrograms responsively to toggling the display of at least one of the first and second traces, respectively.
5 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the time interval comprises first and second times in which an electrophysiological (EP) wave propagates across the tissue and sensed by the at least first and second electrodes, respectively, and wherein the processor is configured to display, over the first and second traces, at least first and second annotations, which are indicative of first and second times, respectively.
6 . The system according to claim 5 , wherein, based on at least the first and second annotations, the processor is configured display over the 3D presentation, a vector indicative of a direction of the EP waves propagating across the tissue between at least the first and second electrodes.
7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein, in response to receiving an adjustment of a signal amplitude of at least one of the first and second signals, the processor is configured to adjust an amplitude of at least one of the first and second traces, respectively.
8 . A method, comprising: receiving, from at least first and second electrodes of a catheter, first and second signals, respectively, which are acquired over at least a time interval by the at least first and second electrodes from a tissue at an organ of a patient, wherein the electrodes are located along one or more splines of the catheter; producing a three-dimensional (3D) representation of at least a portion of the catheter and first and second traces corresponding to the first and second signals; displaying, in the 3D representation, the one or more splines of the catheter comprising the at least the first and second electrodes, displaying the first and second traces in a 3D space relative to physical positions of the first and second electrodes, respectively, displaying a plurality of selectable elements corresponding to at least one of (i) the one or more splines, and (ii) the first and second electrodes; and in response to a selection by the user of one or more of the plurality of selectable elements, the processor is configured to toggle the display of at least one of: (i) the one or more splines, and (ii) the first and second electrodes corresponding to the selectable elements in the 3D representation, and toggling the display of at least one of the first and second traces responsively to toggling the display of at least one of the first and second electrodes, respectively.
9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein displaying the first and second traces comprises displaying the first and second traces along first and second time axes respective to the first and second signals, the first time axis extending orthogonally to the spline comprising the first electrode, and the second time axis extending orthogonally to the spline comprising the second electrode.
10 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein displaying the first and second traces comprises rotating the 3D representation in response to instructions received from a user.
11 . The method according to claim 8 , and comprising producing a two-dimensional (2D) representation of at least first and second electrograms indicative of at least the first and second signals, and wherein, in response to the selection by the user, toggling the display of at least one of the first and second electrograms responsively to toggling the display of at least one of the first and second traces, respectively.
12 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the time interval comprises first and second times in which an electrophysiological (EP) wave propagates across the tissue and sensed by the first and second electrodes, respectively, and comprising displaying, over the first and second traces, at least first and second annotations, which are indicative of first and second times, respectively.
13 . The method according to claim 12 , and comprising, based on at least the first and second annotations, displaying over the 3D presentation, a vector indicative of a direction of the EP waves propagating across the tissue between at least the first and second electrodes.
14 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein displaying the first and second traces comprises, in response to receiving an adjustment of a signal amplitude of at least one of the first and second signals, adjusting a trace amplitude of at least one of the first and second traces, respectively.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices, and particularly to methods and systems for improving the presentation and visualization of signals acquired by multi-electrode catheters. BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Various techniques for presenting electro-anatomical (EA) signals have been published. One of the challenges is to visualize the signals that are acquired over time using catheters having many electrodes. The present disclosure will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the examples thereof, taken together with the drawings in which: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic, pictorial illustration of a catheter-based electrophysiology mapping and ablation system, in accordance with an example of the present disclosure; FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic, pictorial illustrations of a multi-electrode catheter and EA signals acquired over time, in accordance with examples of the present disclosure; and FIG. 4 is a flow chart that schematically illustrates a method for displaying at least a portion of the catheter of FIG. 2 and signals acquired by the electrodes over time, in accordance with an example of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES Overview Examples of the present disclosure that are described below, provide techniques for improving the presentation of multiple signals acquired in an organ of a patient using many electrodes (for example, diagnostic catheters may include as many as 48 or more electrodes to yield increased resolution electroanatomical maps). Electro-anatomical (EA) mapping of an organ, such as a heart, may comprise (i) moving a distal tip of a catheter within the inner volume of the heart, (ii) acquiring electro-physiological (EP) signals on surfaces of the heart, and (iii) presenting the signals to a user, e.g., over a three-dimensional (3D) map of the catheter and the heart. In some cases, a physician performing the EA mapping may use one or more catheters having a large number of electrodes, such as the Biosense Webster's OctaRay® or OPTRELL® catheters having, each, about forty-eight mapping electrodes. Using such catheter may result in acquisition of an overwhelming number of signals and data for the user to interpret during the EA mapping procedure. More specifically, (i) the user has to capture and analyze a lot of data in real time, (ii) the signals presented to the user are not correlated to their location over the catheter, and (iii) adjusting and/or filtering specific signals is time consuming. In some examples, a system for displaying such multi-electrode catheters (e.g., OctaRay® or OPTRELL® catheters), and signals acquired by the catheter electrodes over time comprises: an interface, a processor, and a display device, also referred to herein as a display, for brevity. In some examples, the interface is configured to receive, from at least first and second electrodes, among the electrodes of the catheter, first and second signals, respectively, which are acquired in the heart by the first and second electrodes during a time interval. In some examples, the processor is configured to produce a three-dimensional (3D) representation of (i) at least a portion of the catheter comprising at least the first and second electrodes, and (ii) first and second traces corresponding to the first and second signals. In the present example, the first and second traces are displayed, on the display device, in a 3D space relative to physical positions of the first and second electrodes on the catheter, respectively. In some examples, the electrodes are coupled to splines of the catheter, for example, the OPTRELL® catheter has about six splines, and about eight electrodes coupled to each spline. Moreover, the first and second traces that are corresponding to the first and second signals, are displayed on respective time axes that, in the present example, are orthogonal to the first and second electrodes, respectively. In some examples, the processor is configured to also display, in the 3D representation, at least a portion of the splines, and to rotate the 3D representation in response to instructions received from a user (e.g., a physician who wishes to see the electrodes and/or traces from a different orientation). Moreover, the processor is configured to display a plurality of selectable elements corresponding to at least one of (i) the one or more splines of the catheter, and (ii) at least the first and second electrodes. In case the user selects one or more of the of selectable elements, the processor is configured to toggle the display of the traces (and optionally the splines and/or electrodes) corresponding to the selectable elements in the 3D representation. Example implementations of all these techniques are described in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3 below. In some examples, the system may provide the user with both the 3D representation described above, and a two-dimensional display