Pulsed Field Ablation Catheter Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five largest assignees together hold 35.4% of all 5,726 records in scope, and the ranked ten hold 46.4% — leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants below.
- Filing has cooled from its peak. Annual filings peaked at 465 in 2023; the last complete year shows a -16% move from 2021 (336) to 2024 (281), though 2025-2026 counts are still filling in as publications lag filing.
- Momentum has shifted away from the incumbents. Several of the largest historical filers show sharp year-on-year declines in their most recent filing year, a pattern worth checking against who is filing instead.
Filing growth compares 2021 (336 records) with 2024 (281) — 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 5,726 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 5,726 patent records published between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine pulsed field ablation, irreversible electroporation or ablation catheter claims with technical elements such as biphasic waveform design, field strength control, tissue selectivity, electrode geometry or lesion durability. It spans the shift from thermal (RF and cryo) ablation toward non-thermal, field-based tissue ablation in cardiac and renal denervation applications, and includes both device claims and the underlying electroporation science.
The scope mixes core catheter and generator hardware claims with adjacent biological and diagnostic filings, which is why classes tied to microorganisms, bioreactors and material analysis appear alongside the expected surgical and electrotherapy codes. Readers using this page to plan freedom-to-operate work should treat the family-level view, not raw document counts, as the fairer measure of where claim space is actually occupied.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 5,726-record corpus: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which technical subclasses the claims sit in.
A decade of catheter and electroporation filing
Filings rose from 270 in 2017 to a peak of 465 in 2023. The most recent complete comparison, 2021 to 2024, shows a -16% change (336 to 281); 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, so the apparent drop-off in the newest years should not be read as the field slowing.
Where the claims sit
A61B (diagnosis and surgery) covers 78.1% of the 5,726 records, confirming this is fundamentally a device and procedure landscape, with A61N (electrotherapy) at 30.0% capturing the waveform and energy-delivery claims specific to pulsed field methods. Smaller shares in A61M, C12N, C12M, A61F, A61K and G01N mark adjacent claims on fluid handling, cell-level electroporation science, implant integration, pharmacological adjuncts and measurement — each a narrower pocket worth checking individually since a single record can carry more than one class.
Shares are the percentage of the 5,726 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Pulsed Field Ablation Catheters with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about pulsed field ablation catheters and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
Method and Device for Whole Organ Pulsed Electric Field Application for Irreversible Electroporation
An exemplary pulsed electric field system and method that can uniformly emit electrical pulses via use of a conductivity-controlled liquid medium to penetrate a pre-defined depth of a target tissue for a whole or region of a hollow or tubular organ to induce a tissue response. The conductivity-controlled liquid medium allows more uniform electrical pulses to be generated with less localized or focal bursts of pulses, which can reduce the required power rating of the electric generator for the pulses.Filed by University of Massachusetts, published 2026-03-19 — illustrates a move toward whole-organ, medium-mediated field delivery rather than point-contact electrode design.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5341807A | Ablation catheter positioning system | 2,154 |
| 2 | US6905498B2 | Transmural ablation device with EKG sensor and pacing electrode | 1,326 |
| 3 | US20120059286A1 | Self-Powered Ablation Catheter for Renal Denervation | 1,297 |
| 4 | US7655004B2 | Electroporation ablation apparatus, system, and method | 1,288 |
| 5 | US20080200911A1 | Electrical ablation apparatus, system, and method | 1,148 |
| 6 | US20050288730A1 | Methods and apparatus for renal neuromodulation | 977 |
| 7 | US20140163664A1 | Integrated system for the ballistic and nonballistic infixion and retrieval of implants with or without drug … | 965 |
| 8 | US20060106375A1 | Ablation system with feedback | 910 |
| 9 | US7653438B2 | Methods and apparatus for renal neuromodulation | 898 |
| 10 | US5462521A | Fluid cooled and perfused tip for a catheter | 872 |
Citation counts accumulate over time and favour older filings; treat them as a measure of influence within this searched corpus, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Reading concentration, trend and citation data together points to where claim space is crowded and where it is thin.
Filing is concentrated but not locked up
The five largest assignees hold 35.4% of all records in scope, and the ranked ten hold 46.4% — meaning more than half of the corpus sits outside the leading ten filers, spread across a long tail of smaller entrants.
Momentum has cooled from a 2023 peak, not collapsed
Filings peaked at 465 in 2023 after years of growth from 270 in 2017. The only reliable multi-year comparison, -16% from 2021 to 2024, suggests a plateau rather than a decline, since later years are still incomplete in the publication record.
This is a device landscape first
Nearly four in five records carry an A61B surgical/diagnostic classification, with A61N electrotherapy claims layered on top in 30.0% of records — the waveform and energy-delivery science is the differentiator inside an otherwise device-dominated field.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to pulsed field ablation catheters, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum is shifting
The ranked assignee list captures 100 companies across the 5,726 records; several of the largest historical filers show sharp pullbacks in their most recent filing year, which is worth weighing against who is filing now.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee's family count is more than four times that of the fifth-place filer (170), a gap wide enough to suggest an early, sustained investment in core catheter and waveform claims rather than a recent push.
The drop from fifth to tenth is gradual, not a cliff
Fifth place holds 170 records and tenth place holds 99 — a steady taper rather than a sharp cutoff, consistent with several established medical device and research entities holding meaningful but non-dominant positions.
Established filers are pulling back in the latest year
Several of the largest historical filers show year-on-year declines of roughly three-quarters to over ninety percent in their latest filing year, and at least two show zero filings in that year — a pattern that may reflect publication lag as much as a genuine slowdown.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Scientific International | 6 | -74% |
| Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd. | 3 | -75% |
| St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division, Inc. | 1 | -95% |
| Medtronic, Inc. | 1 | -83% |
| Medtronic Ardian Luxembourg S.a.r.l. | 0 | — |
| Iowa Approach, Inc. | 0 | — |
| C. R. Bard, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
Using this landscape
The data points to where claim space is dense and where it is thin. The next step is testing a specific claim or design-around against the full family record.
Check freedom-to-operate on a specific design
Concentration figures show the leading ten filers hold less than half the corpus, so a new electrode geometry or waveform approach may still clear a path even in a crowded-looking field.
Run an FTO check in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Whole-organ delivery, conductivity-controlled media and tissue-selectivity feedback sensing show comparatively thin filing density relative to core catheter claims.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch assignee momentum, not just rank
Several top-ranked filers show sharp pullbacks in their latest filing year; pairing rank with recent momentum gives a clearer picture of who is actually active now.
Monitor assignees in EurekaCommon questions on pulsed field ablation catheter patents
One assignee leads the ranked list with 716 records, well ahead of the fifth-place filer at 170 and the tenth at 99. The top five assignees together account for 35.4% of all 5,726 records in scope, and the top ten account for 46.4%. That still leaves more than half the field spread across a long tail of smaller filers, including research universities and mid-size device companies, so a single leader does not equate to a closed field.
Filings rose steadily from 270 in 2017 to a peak of 465 in 2023. The most recent reliable comparison, using complete-year data from 2021 to 2024, shows a -16% change (336 to 281), suggesting a plateau after the peak rather than sustained growth. Counts for 2025 and 2026 appear lower still, but that reflects publication lag of roughly 18 months rather than an actual drop in filing activity, so those years should not yet be read as a decline.
78.1% of the 5,726 records carry an A61B classification for surgical and diagnostic devices, confirming this is primarily a catheter and procedure landscape. A61N electrotherapy claims, covering waveform and energy delivery specific to pulsed field methods, appear in 30.0% of records. Smaller shares touch body-fluid devices, cell-level electroporation biology, implants, pharmacological adjuncts and measurement methods, and because records can carry multiple classes these shares add up to more than 100%.
Filing density is comparatively thin in areas like conductivity-controlled delivery media, whole-organ or tubular-organ field application, tissue-selectivity feedback sensing, and lesion durability verification methods, relative to core catheter and electrode claims. These are not empty categories, but they carry less claim density than the dominant A61B/A61N core, which is where a narrower, well-drafted claim is more likely to clear existing art. Confirming this requires checking specific claim language against the family record, not just the classification share.
Patent applications typically publish about 18 months after filing, so any filing made in late 2024 through 2026 may not yet appear in the published record. The dataset shows filings dropping toward 2026, but this is an artefact of that publication lag rather than evidence that inventors have stopped filing. The most defensible comparison uses complete years only, which is why the -16% figure here spans 2021 to 2024 rather than reaching into the most recent years.
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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.