Patent attributes
An apparatus and method for treating a cardiac condition with visual inspection of a tissue treatment site includes the step of delivering an expanding member formed on a distal end of a catheter to a position adjacent a tissue treatment area within a patient's heart. The expandable member has an elastic portion configured to conform to the tissue treatment area. The method further includes the steps of expanding the expandable member thereby allowing the elastic portion of the expandable member to conform to the tissue treatment area and positioning an energy emitter at a first location within an inner lumen of the catheter. A visible aiming beam is projected during positioning of the energy emitter and ablative energy is delivered from the energy emitter to the tissue treatment area thereby resulting in a first spot lesion. The ablative energy is coincident with the aiming beam and the aiming beam is in the form of pulsed visible light to allow intermittent visual inspection of the first spot lesion at times when the aiming beam is not projected onto the tissue treatment area, thereby allowing visual inspection of the ablative characteristics and sufficiency of the first spot lesion.
