An ultrasound apparatus of a body cavity insertable type includes: a handpiece; a supporting rod which is elongated from the handpiece; an ultrasound probe which is connected to the supporting rod and is configured to be able to be inserted in the body cavity; and a sealing cover which is separably coupled to the ultrasound probe to at least partially surround the ultrasound probe in a longitudinal direction from a distal end thereof. The ultrasound probe includes: a piezoelectric element; and a housing to which the piezoelectric element is mounted. An end of the housing is connected to the supporting, and the housing is provided with an ultrasound passing hole which is disposed outside the supporting rod. The sealing cover has an ultrasound passing window which is formed at a position corresponding to the ultrasound passing hole.

A tool has a handle and an elongate shaft that extends distally from the handle. A distal portion of the shaft is inserted into a subject during a surgical procedure. An optical fiber delivers laser energy to a tip at the distal portion of the shaft. The tip includes a mechanical cutting mechanism including a moving part that absorbs the laser energy, thermally conducts the absorbed energy to tissue that is disposed between the moving part and another part, and moves with respect to the other part in order to cut tissue that is disposed between the parts using a mechanical force that is lower than a mechanical force that would be required to cut the tissue in the absence of the laser energy. Other embodiments are also described.

A device is described for treating a nasal airway by modifying a property of a nasal tissue of or near a nasal valve of the airway, without using a surgical incision or an implant, to decrease airflow resistance or perceived airflow resistance in the nasal airway. Various embodiments include an elongate shaft, a bipolar radiofrequency delivery member extending from one end of the shaft, and a handle attached to the elongate shaft at an opposite end from the radiofrequency delivery member. The radiofrequency delivery member is sized to be inserted into a nose and configured to at least temporarily deform the nasal tissue and deliver radiofrequency energy. The radiofrequency delivery member includes two rows of protruding electrodes disposed on a tissue contact surface, and the device is configured to deliver radiofrequency energy from one row of electrodes to the other row of electrodes.

The illustrated embodiments include an apparatus to reduce or eliminate full thickness injury in tissue and to deform tissue which includes a probe or mechanism for deforming tissue, and a subsystem for selectively cooling and/or heating tissue while deformation is of the tissue is being performed. The illustrated embodiments of the invention also extend to a method to reduce or eliminate full thickness injury in tissue and to deform tissue including the steps of deforming tissue, and selectively cooling and/or heating tissue while deformation of the tissue is being performed.

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods for performing dacryocystorhinostomy and an apparatus for performing dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR), the apparatus comprising a dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) tool, which includes a perforating shaft having a distal perforating-shaft perforating tip configured to form a bypass between a lacrimal sac and a nasal cavity through a lateral side of the lacrimal sac, a lacrimal bone, and nasal mucosa and a DCR guide, which includes a nasal guide component, which is configured to be inserted into the nasal cavity and has a nasal-guide channel having a proximal opening and an at least partially laterally facing distal opening, and a lacrimal guide component, which is shaped so as to define a lacrimal-guide channel that is configured to orient the distal perforating-shaft perforating tip with respect to the DCR guide during advancing of the distal perforating-shaft perforating tip through a lacrimal passageway and into the lacrimal sac, until the distal perforating-shaft perforating tip at least crosses the laterally facing distal opening of the nasal guide component, and wherein the DCR guide is configured to constrain the laterally facing distal opening of the nasal guide component to fall in a path of advancement of the distal perforating-shaft perforating tip.

A system is provided to treat sleep apnea, with a method of use. The system includes a handpiece which includes at least one penetrating electrode configured to penetrate tissue and one or more temperature sensors. A processor is coupled with the one or more temperature sensors and the at least one penetrating electrode, and a memory is configured to store instructions executable by the processor. The instructions, when executed, are operable to emit, by the at least one penetrating electrode, RF energy from the electrodes to heat a region of a base of a tongue until a target energy is delivered to the region. The instructions are also operable to measure, by the one or more temperature sensors, the temperature of the region.

A system to treat a patient comprises a user interface that allows a physician to view an image of tissue to be treated in order to develop a treatment plan to resect tissue with a predefined removal profile. The image may comprise a plurality of images, and the planned treatment is shown on the images. The treatment probe may comprise an anchor, and the image shown on the screen may have a reference image marker shown on the screen corresponding to the anchor. The planned tissue removal profile can be displayed and scaled to the image of the target tissue of an organ such as the prostate, and the physician can adjust the treatment profile based on the scaled images to provide a treatment profile in three dimensions. The images shown on the display may comprise segmented images of the patient with treatment plan overlaid on the images.

The disclosed apparatus, systems and methods relate to an endoscopic devices configured to house a telescope and having a rotating tube configured for the application of suction or laser excision. A flexion cartridge can be provided that allows for the flexion of a laser for positioning in the surgical theater. The rotating tube is configured to rotate the laser around the scope tube.

A method of treating a soft palate in a patient may involve advancing a tissue treatment portion of a soft palate treatment device through the patient's mouth, contacting a treatment surface of the tissue treatment portion with mucosal tissue of the soft palate, and delivering energy from the tissue treatment portion through the mucosal tissue to a target tissue in the soft palate beneath to the mucosal tissue, to change at least one property of the target tissue. The method may further involve cooling the mucosal tissue with a cooling member on the treatment surface of the tissue treatment portion and removing the tissue treatment portion from the mouth.

Methods and devices for treating nasal airways are provided. Such devices and methods may improve airflow through an internal and/or external nasal valve, and comprise the use of mechanical re-shaping, energy application and other treatments to modify the shape, structure, and/or air flow characteristics of an internal nasal valve, an external nasal valve or other nasal airways.