An instrument for performing thorascopic repair of heart valves includes a shaft for extending through the chest cavity and into a heart chamber providing access to a valve needing repair. A movable tip on the shaft is operable to capture a valve leaflet and a needle is operable to penetrate a capture valve leaflet and draw the suture therethrough. The suture is thus fastened to the valve leaflet and the instrument is withdrawn from the heart chamber transporting the suture outside the heart chamber. The suture is anchored to the heart wall with proper tension as determined by observing valve operation with an ultrasonic imaging system.

A dilator used in performing a transseptal puncture; it has a hub with an opening at a proximal end; a shaft, connected to a distal end of the hub, comprising a lumen miming along a length of the shaft defining an inner wall within the shaft; an optical fiber for insertion into the lumen of the shaft, the optical fiber comprising a proximal end portion for sealing the opening of the hub, the optical fiber having a length for running along a length of the lumen; wherein the optical fiber is configured to, in a simultaneous or alternating fashion: propagate a laser beam with an ultrafast pulse duration that is generated by an ultrafast laser; and propagate light for obtaining visualization information from the light interacting with neighboring surfaces in the heart using optical coherence tomography.

Provided herein are systems for treating tissue of a patient. The system comprises an energy delivery console and at least one energy delivery device. The energy delivery console can provide a first dose of energy and a second dose of energy. An energy delivery device comprises a first delivery element configured to deliver the first dose of energy to target tissue, and a second delivery element configured to deliver the second dose of energy to the target tissue. The first dose of energy can comprise a delivery of energy that reversibly alters the target tissue, and the second dose of energy can comprise a delivery of energy that irreversibly alters the target tissue. The first dose of energy can be delivered to enhance a therapy provided by the second dose of energy.

In a corneal measurement system, an optical element focuses an excitation light to an area of corneal tissue at a selected depth. In response, a fluorescing agent applied to the cornea generates a fluorescence emission. An aperture of a pinhole structure selectively transmits the fluorescence emission from the area of corneal tissue at the selected depth. A detector captures the selected fluorescence emission transmitted by the aperture and communicates information relating to a measurement of the selected fluorescence emission captured by the detector. A controller receives the information from the detector and determines a measurement of the fluorescing agent in the area of corneal tissue at the selected depth. The system may include a scan mechanism that causes the optical element to scan the cornea at a plurality of depths, and the controller may determine a measurement of the fluorescing agent in the cornea as a function of depth.

A medical instrument for enhancing diagnosis and treatment comprising a handle, an ablation probe extending from the handle, a catheter extending from the handle. The catheter defines a lumen and the ablation probe is located within the lumen of the catheter. A port in fluid communication with the lumen of the catheter is configured for connection to a vacuum or fluid source, and application of a vacuum or an injection of fluid creates a consistent zone of permittivity around the ablation probe.

The present disclosure provides a radiation therapy device and a magnetic resonance guided radiation therapy system. The radiation therapy device may include an electron gun and a curved beam deflection unit. The beam deflection unit may be configured to accelerate an electron beam emitted from the electron gun within a magnetic field. The magnetic resonance guided radiation therapy system may include a radiation therapy device and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device.

Systems and techniques for reliably predicting a motion phase for non-invasive treatment of the heart. The system and methods may account for both respiratory and cardiac cycles in characterizing the motion of the heart relative to the irradiation source. The system and methods may also include a heartbeat sensor that provides an independent reference indication of the cardiac phase to provide real-time or near real-time quality assurance of a current predicted phase indication. The disclosed system and methods may be configured for use in one of two modes: “beam-gating” and “beam-tracking”. For beam-gating, the predicted cardiac phase is compared to the desired gating window, based on the patient-specific treatment plan, to determine if a gate ON or gate OFF signal should be set. For beam-tracking, the predicted cardiac phase is used to load the appropriate beam parameters based on the patient-specific and motion phase-dependent treatment plans.

Among the various aspects of the present disclosure is the provision of a noninvasive and localized brain liquid biopsy using focused ultrasound. Briefly, therefore, the present disclosure is directed to methods and systems to identify brain lesion or tumor characteristics without the need for a solid brain biopsy.

Heart tissue electrical activity mapping used to guide the placement of devices to intervene in (treat) structural heart disease. In some embodiments, the intervention comprises placement of an implantable device, and/or positioning of a therapeutic device used to remove and/or remodel tissue. In some embodiments, electrical activity mapping is performed along with spatial mapping of a body cavity. In some embodiments, the intervention device position is compared to the measured positions of anatomical structures critical to heart electrical function to assess and/or prevent complications due to the device damaging heart electrical function.

A method for selecting one or more targets for non-invasively treating a cardiac arrhythmia in a patient includes receiving a mapping associated with the patient's heart and generating a segmented model of the mapping associated with the patient's heart. The segmented model divides the mapping into a plurality of segments. The method includes identifying one or more abnormality in the segmented model of the mapping associated with the patient's heart, determining which segment or segments of the plurality of segments include the identified one or more abnormality, and selecting a target for non-invasive treatment of the cardiac arrhythmia based on the determined segment or segments of the plurality of segments that include the identified one or more abnormality.