A mechanism facilitates the insertion of radioactive sources/source strands into soft tissue, such as breast tissue, that improves the reproducibility of the procedure and ensures that the sources are reliably and consistently inserted in an exact position per a patient prescription treatment plan from patient to patient as well as improve the ease-of-use of the device and procedure.

Catheter system, devices and methods for diagnosing and treating lateral stenosis causing back pain and or leg pain. The devices comprise a tubular part for insertion into a working cannula to self-position itself safely within the foramen, and minimize the risk of displacement medially or laterally, to prevent nerve or dura injury. An expandable membrane is configured to maintain the catheter device within the foramen. Expansion of this membrane would decompress the nerve within the foramen by opening the foraminal canal as the membrane expands.

This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods for device-assisted manipulation of an implant's position in a patient, such as for delivering and positioning a cochlear implant. An exemplary modular system includes an implant position manipulator (IPM) unit reversibly engaging an elongate member of an implant, and a user control device for applying driving force to the IPM unit to regulate the motion of the implant. The system may include sensors providing feedback on the position or the motion of the implant, or the force or friction applied to the implant during the implantation procedure.

A method of confirming the location of a target tissue within a patient using a navigation system is provided. The navigation system displays images from a pre-acquired image dataset and provides location information of a medical device within a patient in relation to a patient tracking device affixed to the patient. The method includes determining an initial location of the target tissue, navigating a steerable catheter through the airway of the patient to a position proximate the initial location, tracking the location of the steerable catheter in the airway using the navigation system, generating information regarding the presence of the target tissue using a tissue sensing device inserted into the steerable catheter, and determining a confirmed location of the target tissue in relation to the patient tracking device using the generated information regarding the presence of the target tissue and the tracked location of the steerable catheter.

Markers, probes, and related systems and methods are provided for localizing locations within a patient's body, e.g., a lesion within a breast. The marker includes an energy converter e.g., one or more photodiodes, for transforming light energy striking the marker into electrical energy, a storage device coupled to the energy converter for storing the electrical energy, a threshold element that closes a switch when the electrical energy reaches a predetermined threshold to discharge the electrical energy and cause the antenna to transmit a radio frequency (RF) signal. The system includes a probe that transmits light into the patient's body and a processor that correlate the frequency of the RF signals to a distance from the probe to the marker.

An echogenic curette for carrying out a suction dilation and curettage allows the physician to view the curette and the pathology they want to remove, and use that to guide the procedure. The echogenic curette is visible using ultrasound imaging.

A delivery device for tissue anchor delivery is provided. The delivery device includes a first flexible tube having a rigid distal portion attachable to a tissue anchor, a second flexible tube coaxially disposed around the first tube and a tubular sheath covering the second flexible tube. Also provided is a system which includes an imaging device coupler reversibly attached to the delivery device through guides.

A needle apparatus having a sheath with a protective hypotube insert and a method of making the needle sheath. An example needle apparatus includes a handle, a needle having a proximal end connected to the handle and a sheath. The sheath is configured to receive of the needle. The sheath includes a proximal end connected to the handle, a distal end, a lumen and the protective insert. The lumen passes from the proximal end to the distal end of the sheath. The protective insert is received within the lumen at the distal end of the sheath when force and/or heat are applied.

The present disclosure relates to the field of endoscopy. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods which allow the distal portion of a catheter to be visualized within the body using a colored marker and one or more secondary markers. In particular, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods which indicate when a medical device is properly positioned for deployment within a body lumen.

A process implemented by a controller (120/220/320) with a circuit (121-126/221-226/321-351) includes receiving (S410) a signal stream between an ultrasound imaging probe (110/210/310) that emits multiple beams and a console (190/290/390) that receives image signals from the ultrasound imaging probe (110/210/310). The signal stream includes synchronization information indicating timing of emission of each beam, and the circuit (121-126/221-226/321-351) extracts the synchronization information. The circuit (121-126/221-226/321-351) receives (S430), from a passive ultrasound sensor (S1) that receives energy from each beam, a first signal that includes first sensor information indicative of a location of the passive ultrasound sensor (S1) and generated based on receipt by the passive ultrasound sensor (S1) of the energy received from each beam. A second signal with a predefined signature characteristic indicating the timing of emission of each beam is added (S450) to the first signal based on the synchronization information. The circuit the second signal.