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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/irrigated-radiofrequency-ablation-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Cardiac ElectrophysiologyIrrigated 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 cooled after 2021. Filings fell from 93 in 2021 to 40 in 2024, a 57% drop over that three-year span, though 2025-2026 counts are still incomplete due to publication lag.
- A61B dominates the classes. 92.9% of records sit in A61B (diagnosis & surgery), while adjacent classes like G16H (1.3%) and A61L (0.7%) barely register — a sign of where claim density has not yet built up.
1,985
Published Records
45%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-57%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (93 records) with 2024 (40) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,985 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the irrigated RF ablation patent record shows
Irrigated radiofrequency ablation catheters combine contact-force sensing, irrigation flow control and impedance monitoring to create deeper, more consistent cardiac lesions while limiting steam-pop risk. The 1,985 records in this dataset span filings from 2015 through the current data cut-off, drawn from a search string built around contact force sensing, irrigation flow, lesion depth, steam pop, impedance drop and power titration — the operational levers that separate one catheter design from another. Patent families, not raw document counts, anchor the assignee ranking here, which neutralises the effect of aggressive continuation filing or multi-jurisdiction refiling by any single player.
Filing activity peaked in 2017 at 152 records and has since given ground to a smaller set of active filers, with receiving-office activity concentrated in the United States, Europe and WIPO's PCT track. The most-cited records in the corpus date back to foundational pulmonary-vein isolation and circumferential ablation patents from the early 2000s, underscoring how much of today's claim space still traces to that original architecture.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. 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.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Data
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,985-record corpus: the filing trend over time, and the IPC subclasses that carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
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.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
A61B (diagnosis & surgery) covers 92.9% of the 1,985 records, reflecting how most claims describe the ablation procedure or catheter mechanics themselves. A61M (devices for body fluids, 17.0%) and A61N (electrotherapy & radiation therapy, 15.5%) follow at a distance, while G16H (healthcare informatics, 1.3%), A61K (medicinal preparations, 1.1%) and A61L (sterilising & disinfecting, 0.7%) remain thinly claimed — records can carry more than one class, so these shares add up to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,985 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. 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.
Go deeper on Irrigated Radiofrequency Ablation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about irrigated radiofrequency ablation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey Patents
Representative filing and most-cited prior art
Representative Record
WO2020225696A1 — Device, system and method to ablate cardiac tissue
BIOSENSE WEBSTER (ISRAEL) LTD.
An ablation catheter system for drug refractory symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). The system includes an elongated body and an electrode assembly comprising a shell with an inner chamber and a wall defining proximal and distal portions, the distal wall having at least one aperture, plus a micro-element extending through the inner chamber with a distal end received in that aperture and coextensive with the outer wall surface. The system targets acute procedural pulmonary vein isolation success across a defined patient population.Filed by Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., published 2020-11-12.
Most-cited records in the corpus
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6012457A | Device and method for forming a circumferential conduction block in a pulmonary vein | 1,603 |
| 2 | US6024740A | Circumferential ablation device assembly | 1,557 |
| 3 | US6117101A | Circumferential ablation device assembly | 1,405 |
| 4 | US6905498B2 | Transmural ablation device with EKG sensor and pacing electrode | 1,326 |
| 5 | US6849073B2 | Apparatus and method for creating, maintaining, and controlling a virtual electrode used for the ablation of … | 1,126 |
| 6 | US6736810B2 | Apparatus and method for creating, maintaining, and controlling a virtual electrode used for the ablation of … | 1,126 |
| 7 | US6409722B1 | Apparatus and method for creating, maintaining, and controlling a virtual electrode used for the ablation of … | 1,103 |
| 8 | US6537272B2 | Apparatus and method for creating, maintaining, and controlling a virtual electrode used for the ablation of … | 1,026 |
| 9 | US6164283A | Device and method for forming a circumferential conduction block in a pulmonary vein | 850 |
| 10 | US7169144B2 | Apparatus and method for creating, maintaining, and controlling a virtual electrode used for the ablation of … | 763 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had more time to be cited within this searched corpus — read them as a signal of foundational influence, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. 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.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three findings that shape where a new filing is likely to clear prior art, and where it will collide with an entrenched position.
Concentration
44.9%
of 1,985 records held by top 5
The core claim space is already occupied
The top five assignees hold 891 of the 1,985 records in scope, a 44.9% share concentrated in contact-force sensing and irrigation-flow control. New entrants working on the same mechanical architecture face a dense prior-art field around exactly the levers this search targeted.
Assignee ranking, top 5 combined
Filing momentum
-57%
2021 to 2024, complete years
Filing has cooled from its 2021 pace
Filings dropped from 93 in 2021 to 40 in 2024, the most recent year that can be treated as complete. That decline sits after the 2017 peak of 152, suggesting the field's foundational architecture is largely staked out even as refinement continues.
Filing growth, 2021-2024 window
Class composition
92.9%
of records in A61B
Claims cluster in procedure and mechanics
A61B alone touches 1,844 of the 1,985 records. Classes tied to informatics, sterilisation and pharmacology sit under 2% each, which is either unclaimed adjacent territory or simply outside what this search string was built to find.
IPC subclass shares, all records
Prior art depth
1,603 citations
on the most-cited record
Foundational patents still anchor the field
The most-cited records trace to circumferential ablation and pulmonary-vein isolation patents from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their citation counts reflect corpus age as much as ongoing relevance, but freedom-to-operate work still has to clear them.
Most-cited records table
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to irrigated radiofrequency ablation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. 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.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where activity has stalled
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies counted in records — the full ranking the data endpoint returns, not a top-50 or top-100 cut. Recent-year momentum figures point to a field where several leading filers have gone quiet rather than one where a new leader has emerged.
Leader
361
records
One filer well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 361 records, well clear of the fifth-place holder at 63 and the tenth-place holder at 48. That gap is the clearest sign that early architectural choices in irrigated catheter design became durable claim positions.
Assignee ranking, leader vs. fifth and tenth
Long tail
58.7%
top 10 of 1,985 records
Below the top ten, filings fragment quickly
The top ten assignees combine for 1,165 of the 1,985 records, or 58.7%. Past that point, the ranking spreads across the remaining 90 companies, each holding a comparatively small slice.
Assignee ranking, top 10 combined
Momentum
0 in latest year
across several leading assignees
Several top filers show no recent activity
Multiple assignees among the leading ranked group, including some with double-digit historical filing counts, show zero records in the latest year and year-over-year declines of -100%. Given publication lag, this is as likely to reflect filings still working through the pipeline as a genuine pullback.
Recent-year momentum by assignee
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division, Inc. | 0 | — |
| St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Otsuka Medical Devices Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Medtronic, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Affera, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Epix Therapeutics, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Biosense Webster, Inc. | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. 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.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, whitespace filing, or competitive tracking.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the leader group
With 44.9% of records held by five assignees, any new irrigated catheter filing should be checked against their claim scope before drafting, particularly around contact-force and irrigation-flow mechanics.
Start a claim comparison in EurekaTrack the momentum shift among leading filers
Several top assignees show zero filings in the latest recorded year. Whether that is a genuine pullback or a publication-lag artefact matters for competitive planning, and is worth monitoring over the next reporting cycle.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaScope a filing in an under-claimed branch
Classes like G16H and A61L sit under 2% of records each. A claim built around ablation informatics or irrigation-fluid sterility has more room to clear prior art than one built around core catheter mechanics.
Explore whitespace scoping in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. 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.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about irrigated RF ablation patents
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.
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.
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.
WO2020225696A1, filed by Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., claims an electrode assembly with a specific shell-and-aperture geometry and a micro-element extending through an inner chamber to a distal aperture, aimed at pulmonary vein isolation for atrial fibrillation. A new design that uses a materially different electrode geometry or micro-element placement would sit outside its literal claim scope, but any catheter using a similar shell-chamber-aperture arrangement for PVI should be checked against it directly. It represents one filing within a much larger prior art base, not a single blocking patent for the whole field.
The clearest gaps sit in classes with low record share relative to the dominant A61B cluster: healthcare informatics (G16H, 1.3%), medicinal preparations (A61K, 1.1%) and sterilising and disinfecting (A61L, 0.7%). These figures suggest claims tying ablation procedures to real-time informatics, dosing algorithms, or irrigation-fluid sterility have not been heavily filed yet, at least within the scope of this search. That said, low share can also mean the search terms were not built to surface that subfield, so it is worth verifying with a targeted follow-up search before relying on it as true whitespace.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. 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.Run this in Eureka MCP
Research Irrigated Radiofrequency Ablation in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole irrigated radiofrequency ablation corpus yourself, in your own scope.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.