HIGH RESOLUTION INTRAVASCULAR SIGNAL DETECTION

摘要

A system for detecting electrical activity within a patient's heart comprising an elongated intravascular device (10), such as a catheter or guidewire, having a plurality of sensing electrodes (16) on a distal section of the elongated device to detect electrical activity from within a blood vessel of the patient's heart. The intravascular device has a first compact array (17) with a relatively small interelectrode spacing, such as less than 2 mm, and may have a second electrode array (20) with an interelectrode spacing much greater than the interelectrode spacing in the first array. The second electrode array may be used to detect the general region of the arrhythmogenic tissue and the first electrode array is used to provide a high resolution of the electrical detection to more accurately pinpoint the location of the arrhythmogenic site. When the general region of the arrhythmogenic focus is known, an intravascular device having a single array of electrodes with an interelectrode spacing of less than 2 mm may be used.