An improved basket catheter is provided that is particularly useful for mapping
the heart. The catheter comprises an elongated catheter body having proximal and
distal ends and at least one lumen therethrough. A basket-shaped electrode assembly
is mounted at the distal end of the catheter body. The basket assembly has proximal
and distal ends and comprises a plurality of spines connected at their proximal
and distal ends. Each spine comprises at least one electrode. The basket assembly
has an expanded arrangement wherein the spines bow radially outwardly and a collapsed
arrangement wherein the spines are arranged generally along the axis of the catheter
body. The catheter further comprises a distal location sensor mounted at or near
the distal end of the basket-shaped electrode assembly and a proximal location
sensor mounted at or near the proximal end of the basket-shaped electrode assembly.
In use, the coordinates of the distal location sensor relative to those of the
proximal sensor can be determined and taken together with known information pertaining
to the curvature of the spines of the basket-shaped mapping assembly to find the
positions of the at least one electrode of each spine.