A novel transparent electrode that uses a conductive coating to allow
delivery of current to the heart as well as outward imaging through the
electrode is described. The embodiments disclose a catheter incorporating
an endoscope, whose imaging tip is coated with a conductive coating that
is transparent in the endoscopic image. However, a transparent electrode
may be fashioned for any imaging modality, such as intracardiac
echocardiography (ICE), that finds the electrode to be transparent to the
energy used. This electrode coating may be a thin, optically transparent
or translucent coating of platinum or gold or may be a pattern with
enough open spaces to see the underlying tissue, such as looking through
a screen. A wire is connected to the conductive coating and routed to a
radiofrequency generator.