A trans-xiphoid procedure for gaining entry to the chest cavity of a patient, sometimes also referred to herein as a “TRAX” procedure. The procedure may be used for, among other things, mobilization of the mammary arteries and performing coronary artery bypass surgery in which the mammary artery of the patient or other conduit is joined to a coronary artery of the patient, such as the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery.

A catheter system includes a catheter that includes an outer shaft and a rotatable inner shaft having a drill tip. The catheter can be configured to bend laterally when the inner shaft is rotating within the other shaft for maneuvering within a blood vessel, for example, as the drill tip crosses an occlusion. Catheter bending can be activated by translating the inner shaft relative to the outer shaft in a distal direction, proximal direction, or both. The outer shaft may include a locking feature to rotatably lock the inner shaft with the outer shaft and allowing bidirectional lateral bending of the catheter. The inner shaft can include one or more imaging sensors for collecting images outside of the catheter. The inner shaft may be removable from the outer shaft, for example after an occlusion is crossed, to allow insertion of a guidewire or other device within the outer shaft.

A monitoring system includes a mounting assembly for securing a recording device relative to a cannula assembly. The mounting assembly includes a cradle member configured to releasably retain the recording device and a support member including an elongate body. The elongate body has first and second ends. The first end includes a connecting portion for connecting the cradle member to the support member and the second end includes an engaging portion for securing the support member to the cannula assembly.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for generating three-dimensional tissue maps, and particularly fibrosis maps of cardiac tissue. An intravascular device includes an elongated member and a distal tip. An imaging assembly is integrated with the elongated member to enable imaging of the microstructure of tissue near the distal tip. One or more navigation electrodes are positioned at or near the distal tip. Electrical mapping and/or ablation assemblies may also be integrated with the device. Images may be characterized according to a level of fibrosis and, using the corresponding determined locations of the images, a three-dimensional map showing areas of differential fibrosis may be generated. Electrical mapping data may also be integrated with the fibrosis map to generate a composite fibrosis and voltage map.

A catheter system comprises an elongate catheter body including a distal end, a cannulation lumen extending through the catheter body and terminating at the distal end of the catheter body, and a steering element extending through the catheter body for steering the distal end. The catheter system also comprises an imaging element secured to a distal end portion of the catheter body and configured to obtain optical images of an area located distally of the distal end of the catheter body. The catheter body includes a ridge extending axially along an outer surface of the distal end portion, wherein a width of the ridge measured about a circumference of the catheter body is less than a length of the ridge measured along the longitudinal axis, and the imaging element is radially aligned with the ridge with at least a portion of the imaging element disposed within the ridge.

In an endoscope system, a frame adjustment unit makes a frame adjustment for changing the number of frames to be displayed per unit time (frame rate) for a normal image and for a computational image on the basis of a computational processing time detected by a computational processing time detection unit and an amount of motion detected by a motion detection unit. A display control unit determines a display method for the normal image and the computational image on the basis of the amount of motion, and the normal image and the computational image are displayed on a monitor in accordance with the display method.

An imaging probe for use in a catheter for ultrasonic imaging is provided. The imaging probe includes a transducer backing and a transducer configured to generate and receive ultrasonic waves. The transducer includes a first surface and a second surface that is opposite the first surface. The first surface faces the transducer backing and the second surface is disposed at an angle sloping toward a catheter center axis in a proximal direction.

An endoscope system includes an endoscope that can be inserted in and pulled out from a subject, and includes a tip portion provided with an imaging unit including an optical system and an image sensor, a posture control sensor that is arranged at the tip portion of the endoscope, and detects posture information in at least three directions, a front-rear direction, an up-down direction, and a left-right direction, of the tip portion, and a calculation device that calculates presence or absence of deviation in the up-down direction of an image captured by the imaging unit, based on the posture information in the three directions detected by the posture control sensor. The calculation device displays an indicator indicating the presence or absence of deviation in the up-down direction of the image in association with the image on a monitor.

An intravascular catheter includes a catheter shaft having a distal portion, a plurality of magnetic localization elements disposed within the distal portion, and an integrated electronics package disposed within the distal portion of the catheter shaft. The integrated electronics package, which can be a system on a chip such as an application specific integrated circuit, includes a power supply, a pre-amplifier, a multiplexor, and an imaging element driver. It can also include imaging elements. The magnetic localization elements can include magnetic coils and/or solid state magnetic localization elements, such as anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors, and can also be incorporated into the integrated electronics package.

A method and system for calibrating fluorescence data in a multimodality image acquired from a vessel imaged by an imaging catheter. A fluorescence signal acquired by a first modality is calibrated by applying a first calibration factor based on a lumen distance and/or radiation angle from the catheter to the vessel wall. If a parameter of the calibrated fluorescence signal is different from a predetermined condition, a user is prompted to manually select a lumen boundary and/or a region of interest (ROI) on the image of the vessel. An optical attenuation property of the selected boundary and/or ROI is calculated based on backscattered radiation collected by a second modality, and the fluorescence signal is further calibrated by applying a second calibration factor based on the optical attenuation property.