Systems, devices, and methods for controlling cooperative surgical instruments are provided. Various aspects of the present disclosure provide for coordinated operation of surgical instruments accessing various surgical sites from different or shared surgical approaches to achieve a common or cooperative surgical purpose. For example, various methods, devices, and systems disclosed herein can enable the coordinated treatment of tissue by disparate minimally invasive surgical systems that approach the tissue from varying anatomical spaces and must operate differently, but in concert with, one another to effect a desired surgical treatment.

In general, devices, systems, and methods for multi-source imaging are provided.

An apparatus includes a handle assembly, a shaft assembly, an end effector, and an auto-tensioning feature. The handle assembly includes a body and a plunger. The shaft assembly includes an external sheath that is fixed to the handle body and an interior shaft that is coupled to the plunger. The interior shaft is slidable relative to the external sheath. The end effector is configured to encompass a bodily lumen and includes a flexible member extending distally from the interior shaft. A first coupling element is fixed to the distal tip of the flexible member. A second coupling element is fixed to the external sheath. The first and second coupling elements are magnetically attracted to each other and are biased toward each other such that the flexible member defines an adjustable loop. The auto-tensioning feature is configured to bias the plunger portion proximally relative to the handle body.

Systems and methods are described for the monitoring of patient motion via the detection of changes in capacitance, as measured using a capacitance position sensing electrode array. The changes in capacitance may be processed to determine a corresponding positional offset, for example, using a calibration data set relating capacitance to offset for each electrode of the array. The detected positional offset may be employed to provide feedback to a surgeon or operator of a medical device, or directly to the medical device for the control thereof. A medical procedure may be interrupted when the positional offset is detected to exceed a threshold. Alternatively, the detected positional offset may be employed to manually or automatically reconfigure a medical device to compensate for the detected change in position. Various configurations of capacitive position sensing devices are disclosed, including embodiment in incorporating capacitive sensing electrodes with a mask or other support structure.

A needle guide comprising a base to which a pair of horizontal slide bars are secured, the horizontal slide bars including a channel opening running between the bars, a needle stabilizer with a central tube is slideably engaged with the pair of horizontal slide bars, wherein the needle stabilizer extends through the channel opening and has the ability to change positions along a length of the horizontal slide bar, an angular ruler is secured to the base and located proximal to the needle stabilizer to allow accurate adjustment of the angle of the externally adjustable needle guide and one or more virtual visualization bars to aid in visualization using radiography, ultrasound, or magnetic resonance (or any other medical imaging technology) to visualize the virtual visualization bars.

Ablation systems and methods detect and address distortion caused by a variety of factors. A method includes measuring a temperature curve at target tissue; applying ablation energy to the target tissue; determining a peak temperature on the temperature curve; if the peak temperature is greater than the predetermined peak temperature, determining a time at which the temperature curve crosses to a lower temperature; and if the determined time is greater than a predetermined time, generating a message indicating that the target tissue was successfully ablated. Another method includes determining a distance between a remote temperature probe and an ablation probe, applying ablation energy to target tissue, measuring temperature at the remote temperature probe, estimating ablation size based on the determined distance and the temperature measured by the remote temperature probe, and determining whether the target tissue is successfully ablated based on the estimated ablation size.

Disclosed herein is a stone removing apparatus and a stone size measuring method, which can take a picture of a stone and measure the size of the stone in order to stably remove the stone without damaging a human body. The stone removing apparatus includes: an insertion tube having an inner space; a guide tube inserted into the inner space of the insertion tube to be moved; a wire inserted into the guide tube to be movable; a basket disposed at the front of the wire to grasp a stone; an imaging unit disposed at the front end of the guide tube in order to take an image of a stone grasped by the basket; and a control unit electrically connected with the imaging part to analyze the image taken by the imaging unit, wherein the control unit calculates a distance between the imaging unit and the basket to measure the actual size of the stone using the calculated distance.

Various systems and methods for determining the composition of tissue via an ultrasonic surgical instrument are disclosed. A control circuit can be configured to monitor the change in resonant frequency of an ultrasonic electromechanical system of the ultrasonic surgical instrument as the ultrasonic blade oscillates against a tissue and determine the composition of the tissue accordingly. In some aspects, the control circuit can be configured to modify the operation of the ultrasonic electromechanical system or other operational parameters of the ultrasonic surgical instrument according to the detected tissue composition.

An exemplary embodiment relates to a measuring method (50) and to a measuring device (10) in order to determine a length or an area within a scene (32) which are characterized at least partially by a real start point (40-2) and a real end point (42-2), wherein the measurement takes place using at least two images (18, 20) and it is thereby not necessary for the real start point (40-2) and the real end point (42-2) to be imaged in one of the images (18, 20).

A robotic surgical system for treating a patient comprises a first robotic arm configured to remotely control a surgical instrument that is positionable within a cavity of the patient; a second robotic arm configured to remotely control a device that is passable through an orifice of the patient; and a control circuit communicatively couplable to the first and second robotic arm. The first and second robotic are each attached to a surgical platform. The control circuit is configured to determine a position of the arms; cause each of the first and second robotic arm to change their respective position and orientation based on an adjustment of a platform position of the surgical platform; and control the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm to cooperatively interact to perform a surgical operation.