The present invention relates to the use of a NIR fluorescent probe comprising an aza-bicycloalkane based cyclic peptide labelled with a Cy5.5 dye moiety in the fluorescence- guided surgery of pathologic regions and to an optical imaging method that comprises using this fluorescent probe for the identification and demarcation of tumor margins during the surgical resection.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to techniques for inducing physiological perturbations in a subject via neuromodulation, e.g., peripheral neuromodulation of a region of interest of an organ. The nature and degree of the perturbations may be related to the subject's clinical condition. Accordingly, an assessment of one or more characteristics of the perturbations may be used to determine a clinical condition of the subject.

The present invention relates to devices and methods for measuring vascular deficiency using Doppler ultrasound detection. Embodiments can be used to monitor the condition of surgical tissue flaps or other conditions in which obstruction in the vascular system can impact patient health. The systems can include a Doppler ultrasound probe, a color probe, a temperature probe, and/or other suitable probes to measure blood volume and perfusion status of a tissue region. The systems and methods can be used to monitor flaps after flap transplant surgeries. The systems and methods can automatedly assess tissue condition and alert the patient or medical staff if the condition has fallen below a threshold indicating occlusion of a blood vessel. One or more additional sensors can be integrated into a probe to measure vascular conditions and a metric can be computed based on sensed data.

A computer-implemented method of visualizing blood flow through a patient using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) includes receiving an image of the portal venous system of the patient's liver at a full field of view. A reduced field of view is defined which encompasses the portal venous system of the patient's liver and excludes extraneous anatomy in the full field of view. A navigator area is defined in the full field of view and outside of the reduced field of view. Transmit channels are used to selectively excite the reduced field of view and the navigator area throughout a cardiac cycle of the patient. Measurement data is acquired in response to the selective excitation. The acquired data is used to generate time-resolved 3D datasets. Additionally, a 3D visualization of blood flow though the portal venous system is generated based on the time-resolved 3D datasets.

A method of treating a human subject which is effected by intermittent inhalation of gaseous nitric oxide at a concentration of at least 160 ppm is disclosed. The method can be utilized for treating a human subject suffering from, or prone to suffer from, a disease or disorder that is manifested in the respiratory tract, or from a disease or disorder that can be treated via the respiratory tract. The disclosed method can be effected while monitoring one or more of on-site and off-site parameters such as vital signs, methemoglobin levels, pulmonary function parameters, blood chemistry and hematological parameters, blood coagulation parameters, inflammatory marker levels, liver and kidney function parameters and vascular endothelial activation parameters, such that no substantial deviation from a baseline in seen in one or more of the monitored parameters.

A first extracting unit extracts at least one portion of a region of a target structure that includes lumen structures having branches from a three dimensional image of the target structure. A second extracting unit extracts the lumen structures from the at least one portion of the region of the target region. An index value calculating unit calculates an index value that represents the uniformity of the distribution of the lumen structures within the at least one portion of the region of the target structure, based on the at least one portion of the region of the target structure and the extracted lumen structures. Further, a quantifying unit quantifies the degree of reliability of the image quality of the at least one portion of the region of the target structure.

Diagnostic apparatus (24) includes a sealed case (40), including a biocompatible material and configured for implantation within a body of a human subject (22). At least one antenna (42) is configured to be implanted in the body in proximity to a target tissue (28) and to receive radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves propagated through the target tissue and to output a signal in response to the received waves. Processing circuitry (44,46), which is contained within the case, us coupled to receive and process the signal from the antenna so as to derive and output an indication of a characteristic of the target tissue.

Systems and methods are provided for neuro stimulation. In one implementation, a system is provided that includes a stimulator introduced into tissue at a target location and a central controller that communicates wirelessly with the stimulator. The stimulator includes a power system that receives wireless energy transmission, and an electrode system that transmits an electrical pulse for stimulating the target location. The central controller includes a power system that wirelessly delivers power to the stimulator, a communication system that wirelessly communicates with the stimulator, and a processing system that controls the power system and the communication system. The central controller may instruct the stimulator to transmit one or more electrical pulses to the target location to affect an endocrine function (e.g., affect the glucose level of a patient).

A system for providing optical actuation and optical sensing can include an optical coherence tomography (OCT) device that performs optical imaging of a sample based on optical interferometry from an optical sampling beam interacting with an optical sample and an optical reference beam; an OCT light source to provide an OCT imaging beam into the OCT device which splits the OCT imaging beam into the optical sampling beam and the optical reference beam; and a light source that produces an optical actuation beam comprising a plurality of wavelengths that is coupled along with the optical sampling beam to be directed to the sample to actuate particles or structures in the sample so that the optical imaging captures information of the sample under the optical actuation.

A method and apparatus of determining the condition of a bulk tissue sample, by: positioning a bulk tissue sample between a pair of induction coils (or antennae); passing a spectrum of alternating current (or voltage) through a first of the induction coils (or antennae); measuring spectrum of alternating current (or voltage) produced in the second of the induction coils (or antennae); and comparing the phase shift between the spectrum of alternating currents (or voltages) in the first and second induction coils (or antennae), thereby determining the condition of the bulk tissue sample.