Irrigated RF Ablation Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
Irrigated Radiofrequency Ablation Patents: Mapping the Field
44.9% concentration. The top five assignees hold 891 of the 1,985 records in scope — a field where a handful of catheter makers already occupy the core claim space. Filings peaked at 152 in 2017 and declined to 40 by 2024, a complete year that shows a 57% drop from the 93 filed in 2021. Counts for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent bars understate actual filing activity rather than confirming a further decline.
- 1BIOSENSE WEBSTER (ISRAEL) LTD361
- 2ST JUDE MEDICAL ATRIAL FIBRILLATION DIVISION INC299
- 3ST JUDE MEDICAL CARDILOGY DIV INC92
- 4EPIX THERAPEUTICS INC76
- 5MEDTRONIC INC63
See the full irrigated radiofrequency ablation analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about irrigated RF ablation patents
Who holds the most patents in irrigated radiofrequency ablation?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 361 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 63 and the tenth-place holder at 48. The top five assignees combined hold 891 of the 1,985 records in scope, a 44.9% share, which means the core mechanical claims around contact-force sensing and irrigation flow are already densely occupied by a small group of established catheter makers. Anyone entering this space should expect to design around, rather than through, that leader group’s positions.
Is filing activity in irrigated RF ablation growing or slowing?
Filings peaked in 2017 at 152 records and had fallen to 40 by 2024, a 57% decline from the 93 filed in 2021. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in this dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a further drop. The honest read is that the field cooled from its 2021 pace through the last complete filing year on record, 2024.
What technology areas do irrigated RF ablation patents cover?
The overwhelming majority, 92.9% of the 1,985 records, sit in IPC class A61B, covering diagnosis and surgery generally, which includes most catheter mechanics and ablation procedure claims. Devices for body fluids (A61M) and electrotherapy (A61N) follow at 17.0% and 15.5% respectively, since irrigation and energy delivery are core to the technology. Classes tied to informatics, sterilisation and pharmacology each cover under 2% of records, marking them as comparatively open ground.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Irrigated Radiofrequency Ablation covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.