A system comprising: two or more tracking sensors that are configured to provide pose information, wherein the two or more tracking sensors include: a first tracking sensor configured to provide a reference coordinate system; and a second tracking sensor that resides in the reference coordinate system relative to the first tracking sensor; one or more segments of optical fiber affixed to the second tracking sensor, wherein the one or more segments of optical fiber are tracked relative to the second tracking sensor; an interrogator that is configured to read measurements from the one or more segments of optical fiber; and a computing device configured to execute an algorithmic method on data from the one or more segments of optical fiber, wherein measurements taken from the one or more segments of optical fiber are placed in the context of pose information from the two or more tracking sensors.

A system and method of collision avoidance includes determining a position and an orientation, the position and the orientation being of a repositionable arm or of an instrument, the repositionable arm being configured to support the instrument; determining, based on the position and the orientation, a plurality of first virtual boundaries around the repositionable arm or the instrument; determining a second virtual boundary around an object; determining a first overlap force on the repositionable arm due to a first overlap between the second virtual boundary and a virtual boundary of the plurality of first virtual boundaries; determining a tip force on a distal end of the instrument based on the first overlap force; and applying the tip force as a first feedback force on the instrument or the repositionable arm.

Medical imaging systems and methods are provided herein that provide for navigation and procedure planning without segmentation. A method comprises receiving, by a medical imaging system having at least: one processing device, three-dimensional image data of a patient anatomy. The method also comprises filtering the three-dimensional data to display a portion of the three-dimensional image data that is associated with the patient anatomy and receiving, at the processing device, input from an operator input device. The input comprises navigational directions for virtual movement within a space defined by the three-dimensional image data. The method also includes tracking the virtual movement and generating a first model of the patient anatomy based on the tracked virtual movement.

A medical system comprises a display system and a medical instrument. The system further comprises a control system communicatively coupled to the display system. The control is system configured to display image data of a patient anatomy via the display system. The control system is further configured to determine, while the medical instrument navigates the patient anatomy, that a distal portion of the medical instrument is within a threshold distance of a target location in the patient anatomy. The control system is further configured to display an anatomical boundary via the display system if the distal portion of the medical instrument is within the threshold distance of the target location, the anatomical boundary indicating a surface of an anatomical structure of the patient anatomy.

In order to provide a surgical tool that has an open-close end effector such as forceps, and is designed to be small in size and light in weight, the surgical tool includes: a shaft (102); a pitch unit (401) that is connected to an end of the shaft (102) and is able to turn about a first axis; a roll unit (402) that is supported and is rotatable about a second axis with respect to the pitch unit (401); and a grip unit (403) that is supported and is linearly movable in the second axis direction with respect to the roll unit (402), and the surgical tool further includes a pair of jaws (405a, 405b) that are attached to the lower end of the roll unit (402) in the second axis direction, and open and close in conjunction with linear motion of the grip unit (403) in the second axis direction.

Systems, methods, and devices are provided for assisting or performing guided interventional procedures using specialized catheters and inserts. A bend altering device is introduced into a conduit in an organ causing it to take on a tortuous path and to assist in its visualization. A scan is performed of a patient's anatomy to identify targets critical structures and the path of the conduit. A bend altering device containing position indicating elements is placed into the conduit in the same path as before the scan. During a procedure, the pre-procedure scans may be registered to the patient using the location of the position indicating elements in the conduit. This registration may be used in an intervention to guide instruments and templates to obtain diagnostic information or provide therapy to the targets identified in the scans.

A medical system comprising a medical instrument including at least one elongated actuation member used to move at least a portion of the medical instrument, a motor coupled to the medical instrument and used to operate the at least one elongated actuation member, and a control system in communication with the medical instrument and with the motor. The control system is configured to receive at least one input from the medical instrument and determine a force on a tip of the medical instrument by applying the at least one input to a lumped model of the medical instrument. The lumped model comprises a mass of the motor and a spring parameter coupling the mass of the motor to a mass of the portion of the medical instrument.

In one embodiment, an anatomical implant template has a template body having opposed first and second terminal ends. The template body bends so as to change the body from a first configuration, whereby the body extends from the first terminal end to the second terminal end along a first path, to a second configuration, whereby the body extends from the first terminal end to the second terminal end along a second path, different from the first path, the second path conforming more closely to the curvature of the at least one anatomical body. The body supports at least one device that outputs at least one signal from which a shape of the body in the second configuration can be ascertained. The anatomical implant template can further communicate the at least one signal to a computing device that generates signals for bending an anatomical implant.

The invention relates to a visualization system (10) for visualizing an accuracy of an alignment of a position and shape of an instrument (33), which has been determined by a position and shape determination device (9), with an image of the instrument. The accuracy is determined for different regions of the instrument as defined by the position and shape and of the image, wherein among these regions at least one region is determined, in which the determined accuracy indicates that it is insufficient. A visualization is then generated in which the determined region is indicated on a representation of the position and shape and/or the image. This visualization guides a user's eyes to the region which should not be missed, while deciding whether, for instance, a navigation of the instrument during a subsequent interventional procedure should be based on this alignment, which in turn allows for an improved navigation accuracy.

A bend information computation apparatus includes a generation unit and a bend information arithmetic operator. The generation unit generates suppression information that suppresses first information representing a variation in spectrum not derived from a bend of a detection target provided in a light guide on the basis of light source spectrum information. The bend information arithmetic operator operates second information representing a variation in spectrum derived from the bend on the basis of a spectrum of light guided by the light guide, operates third information representing a variation in spectrum derived only from the bend on the basis of the second information and the suppression information, and operates bend information on the basis of the third information.