An antenna system for tissue ablation includes an energy transmission member, a conductive hollow coil member coupled to the energy transmission member, and a fluid cooling system coupled to the conductive hollow coil member for providing a flow of cooling fluid through a member lumen of the conductive hollow coil member for cooling the conductive hollow coil member. In some examples, at least one of the antenna body, a choke member, and a hybrid choke member includes the conductive hollow coil member. In some examples, the hybrid choke member includes a choke portion wound around a portion of the energy transmission member, an antenna body portion wound around a portion of the energy transmission member, and an insulator portion extending between the choke portion and the antenna body portion. In some examples, the antenna system includes a sheath extending over the energy transmission member and the conductive hollow coil member.

Disclosed are methods of using focused acoustic waves for providing non-invasive sonodynamic therapy. The method includes acoustically coupling an array of piezoelectric transducers to a patient. A controller is configured to generate an electrical drive signal at a frequency selected from a range of frequencies, modulate the drive signal, and drive the transducer with the modulated drive signal at the frequency to produce modulated acoustic waves to produce an average acoustic intensity sufficient to activate a sonosensitizer in a treatment region without damaging healthy cells in the treatment region.

Disclosed are methods of using planar or defocused acoustic waves for providing non-invasive sonodynamic therapy. The method includes acoustically coupling an array of piezoelectric transducers to a patient. A controller is configured to generate an electrical drive signal at a frequency selected from a range of frequencies, modulate the drive signal, and drive the transducer with the modulated drive signal at the frequency to produce modulated acoustic waves to produce an average acoustic intensity sufficient to activate a sonosensitizer in a treatment region without damaging healthy cells in the treatment region.

Disclosed are methods of producing ultrasound waves for providing sonodynamic therapy. The method includes coupling a sonodynamic therapy device with an array of piezoelectric transducer elements to a skin surface. A controller is configured to generate an electrical drive signal to produce ultrasound waves to activate a sonosensitizer in a treatment region without damaging healthy cells in the treatment region.

A bipolar dissector includes a handle actuatable by squeezing, a housing extending from and coupled to a distal end of the handle, and a shaft coupled to a proximal end of the handle and extending past the distal end of the handle and through the housing to a distal end of the housing. The shaft includes first and second electrical lines extending from a proximal end to a distal end of the shaft and an insulating material electrically insulating the electrical lines from each other and from the handle and the housing. The bipolar dissector also includes a pair of forceps including a first tine and a second tine. The tines extend from the electrical lines at the distal end of the shaft at the distal end of the housing. Squeezing the handle actuates the forceps in the same direction as the squeezing.

A macerating and aspiration tool for removing blood masses from the brain.

In one embodiment, a medical system includes a medical instrument having a grasper head including first and second complementary grasping jaws, and first and second conducting surfaces disposed on respective distal portions of the first and second grasping jaws, the conducting surfaces being electrically isolated from each other in the grasper head, an actuator configured to close the grasping jaws so as to bring the conducting surfaces into contact with a tissue of a body part of a living subject, and a proximity sensor configured to output at least one proximity signal responsive to a displacement between the grasping jaws, and processing circuitry coupled to sense the displacement between the first and second grasping jaws responsively to the at least one proximity signal, and apply an electrical current between the first and second conducting surfaces of the grasping jaws when the sensed displacement is less than a given threshold displacement.

Low power MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) radiation is used to non-invasively record molecular activity in a biological object such as a brain. Low power MASER radiation is also used to neuromodulate molecular targets via Rabi coupling, resulting for example in conformational and function change in specific molecular targets such as ligand-gated ion channels, voltage-gated ion channels, G-proteins, or dopamine receptors. The method can be used to change the energy state of targeted molecules via energization or enervation, or to ablate targeted molecules.

A trajectory guiding apparatus and one or more methods associated therewith for facilitating precision-guided alignment and implantation of a DBS therapy device in a patient. A base plate and base frame combination provides a platform for a dual-stage slider (DSS) assembly comprising a bottom stage slider (BSS) table and a top stage slider (TSS) table that each have suitably sized apertures or orifices therethrough for allowing the passage of and securely holding an instrumentation column (IC) assembly whose translational movement (i.e., sideways or forward and/or backward directions along a translational plane) and pivotal/rotational movement (i.e., around a perpendicular axis orthogonal to the translational plane and extending through a pivot or fulcrum) are independently controlled by respective slide actuators in order to properly align the IC assembly to a desired trajectory.

An automated laser-surgery system for performing a closed-loop surgical procedure is disclosed. The procedure includes forming a post-procedural goal based on a three-dimensional (3D) image of a surgical site, planning a path for a surgical laser signal based on the post-procedural goal, performing a procedural pass by steering the surgical laser signal along the path, measuring the surface of the surgical site after the procedural pass, updating a model based on the measured effect at the surgical site, and evaluating the success of the procedural pass based on the surface measurement and the post-procedural goal. If necessary, a new path is planned based on the post-procedural goal and the surface measurement a new pass based on that path is performed, and the surface is again measured to evaluate the success of the new pass. These operations are repeated as a closed-loop sequence as many times as necessary to achieve success.