A positioning device for positioning an abnormal tissue is provided. The positioning device comprises a positioning tube and a positioning suture accommodated in the positioning tube. When the positioning suture is injected into the abnormal tissue, a head portion and a portion of a body portion of the positioning suture are retained inside the abnormal tissue while the rest of the body portion being exposed outside the abnormal tissue, thereby marking a specific area accordingly to facilitate the subsequent excision process.

A marker for image guided surgery, consisting of a base, having a base axis, connecting to a clamp; and an alignment target. The alignment target includes a target region having an alignment pattern formed thereon, and a socket connected to the target region and configured to fit rotatably to the base, whereby the alignment target is rotatable about the base axis. The alignment target also includes an optical indicator for the socket indicating an angle of orientation of the alignment target about the base axis.

A system and method configured to position medical instruments. The system and method includes an orientation localizer including at least one fiducial marker and having a localized plane, wherein the orientation localizer is mountable at a skin entry point on a patient, a computer configured to receive at least one medical image on the localized plane, register a position and orientation of the orientation localizer with the at least one medical image using the at least one fiducial marker, determine at least one cross sectional image based on the at least one medical image on the localized plane, and determine an insertion plane perpendicular to the localized plane, and an image display connected to the computer, wherein the image display displays the at least one cross sectional image on the localized plane and/or on the insertion plane.

A hydrogel marker is placed under stress during its curing stage, in one embodiment, by application of an externally applied force. The stress may also be induced during or after the dehydration process. The direction of the externally applied force increases the length, width, depth, or radial extent of the marker. The elastic limit of the marker is exceeded when the external force is applied so that the marker substantially retains its stressed size and shape when the externally applied force is removed. When the stretched or otherwise deformed dehydrated marker is hydrated, it substantially returns to the configuration it had prior to its dehydration and prior to the application of the externally applied force.

Marking device (100) for implantation into a tissue (260), having a support structure (102) which is formed by at least one elastic metal wire, is compressible and is self-expanding and which, in an expanded state, encompasses an interior space (104), characterized in that the marking device (100) is designed to transform itself on its own from a compressed state into an expanded state, even against a tissue pressure prevailing at a tissue site to be marked, and the marking device (100) in the expanded state has a hollow, approximately spherical shape.

An implantable magnetic marker comprising at least one piece of a large Barkhausen jump material (LBJ) containing at least one loop. The coiled marker is deployed to mark a tissue site in the body for subsequent surgery, and a magnetic detection system with a handheld probe excites the marker above or below the switching field required for bistable switching of the marker causing a harmonic response to be generated in a bistable or sub-bistable mode that allows the marker to be detected and localised.

A navigation system is disclosed comprising a first and a second tracker support separately affixed to the same rigid object by a distance. A first and a second plurality of trackable elements are secured to the first and second tracker supports, respectively. The navigation system defines a tracking arrangement to be tracked based on a combination of the first and second plurality of trackable elements. A geometry of the tracking arrangement relative to the rigid object is registered. The navigation system has a localizer configured to track the rigid object by detecting the registered geometry of the tracking arrangement. The navigation system identifies a condition wherein at least one trackable element has been displaced relative to the registered geometry, and in response, generates a response to address the condition.

Disclosed is a fixation system and method. The system and method may fix a selected member to a subject during a procedure. The selected member may include a tracking device or registration member.

Navigation systems and methods used to track objects moving in space. One navigation system and method employs trackers each having a light emitting diode that emits a colored light when obstruction of line-of-sight between tracking elements on the trackers and sensors or other errors are absent. When obstruction of line-of-sight between tracking elements on the trackers and sensors or other errors are generated, the light emitting diode is deactivated. Another navigation system and method employs trackers each having a light emitting diode that emits a colored light when obstruction of line-of-sight between tracking elements on the trackers and sensors or other errors are generated. When obstruction of line-of-sight between tracking elements on the trackers and sensors or other errors are absent, the light emitting diode is deactivated.

Systems and methods for closed-loop control of heart failure interventional therapies using closed-loop feedback from vascular implanted cardiac health status sensors are disclosed.