MEDICAL DEVICE COMPRISING A PROBE FOR MEASURING TEMPERATURE DATA IN A PATIENT'S TISSUE

摘要

A medical device comprising a probe for measurement temperature data of tissue within a patient's body is proposed. The probe (2) comprises a flexible substrate (3) attached to a medical device core (5), the flexible substrate (3) comprising one or more thermopiles (7) and may furthermore comprise resistors for measuring an absolute temperature and heat sources for locally applying heat. The thermopiles can be processed directly on a flexible polymer carrier or, alternatively, on a silicon substrate and transferred to a flexible carrier (3) enabling both, a highly flexible substrate (3) and very small structural dimensions for the thermopiles (7) and, possibly, the resistors and heat sources. Accordingly, measurement of temperature gradients of tissue being in contact to the medical device may be performed at high resolution allowing reliable detection of temperature anomalies e.g. due to malign tissue.