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.