A laser based vascular illumination system utilizing a FPGA for detecting vascular positions, processing an image of such vasculature positions, and projecting the image thereof onto the body of a patient.

The present invention is a Miniature Vein Enhancer that includes a Miniature Projection Head. The Miniature Projection Head may be operated in one of three modes, AFM, DBM and RTM. The Miniature Projection Head of the present invention projects an image of the veins of a patient which aids the practitioner in pinpointing a vein for an intravenous drip, blood test, and the like. The Miniature projection head may have a cavity for a power source or it may have a power source located in a body portion of the Miniature Vein Enhancer. The Miniature Vein Enhancer may be attached to one of several improved needle protectors, or the Miniature Vein Enhancer may be attached to a body similar to a flashlight for hand held use. The Miniature Vein Enhancer of the present invention may also be attached to a magnifying glass, a flat panel display, and the like.

A radiopaque marker bead can be attached to an endoprosthesis by pressing an end of bead into a through hole formed into the endoprosthesis and allowing the opposite end of the bead to pass through the hole and protrude out of the other end of the hole. Both ends of the bead can then be pressed and flattened so as to frictionally engage both ends of the hole. A support tool having a curved outer surface can be inserted into the endoprosthesis to support the endoprosthesis luminal surface while the bead is being pushed into the hole. The support tool has a depression which allows the opposite end of the bead to protrude out of the hole.

Devices and methods for visibly highlighting areas of a region including an imager configured to image the region with a sensitivity to at least one of wavelength, light level, or contrast greater than the human eye, an overlay element configured to visibly highlight areas of the region and registered to the imager to produce alignment of imaged features with highlighted features at the same location on the region, and at least one of a controller executing a program or logic configured to process acquired images from the imager to identify areas of the region determined not visible to the human eye, and control the overlay element to visibly highlight those areas on the region.

Provided is a surgical assistance apparatus and so on that make it possible to more accurately check the state that an affected part is to be in after a surgical operation has started, in advance of the surgical operation. A surgical assistance apparatus includes an image processing unit. The image processing unit creates projection image data based on measurement data that has been obtained by measuring an affected part of a patient, and thus creates a projection image as an image that is specified by the projection image data. This projection image is an image that is to be projected onto the patient, and includes an image that shows a state that the affected part is to be in after a surgical operation has started.

A method for performing a surgical procedure on a patient using a robotic system and a navigation system. The robotic system includes a cutting tool. The navigation system has at least one locating device to track a portion of the patient during the surgical procedure. The navigation system provides information as to a position of the portion of the patient. An optical cutting guide is projected onto the portion of the patient to enable cutting of the portion of the patient with the cutting tool of the robotic system while the optical cutting guide is projected onto the portion of the patient.

System and methods are described herein for generating an injection guide, which include receiving one or more digital images of a body region of an individual, the body region including one or more physical registration landmarks, generating at least one digital representation of the body region using the one or more digital images, the at least one digital representation including one or more digital registration landmarks corresponding to the one or more physical registration landmarks on the body region, adding one or more digitally registered injection sites to the at least one digital representation of the body region in an injection-treatment pattern, the one or more digitally registered injection sites registered relative to the one or more digital registration landmarks, and generating one or more output signals having information for controlling one or more controllable light-emitting elements to illuminate a location on a surface of the body region of the individual corresponding in location to at least one of the one or more digitally registered injection sites.

First and second skeleton model data is determined based on first and second surface data of a patient. Each of the skeleton model data describes geometries of rigid anatomic structures of a patient at a different point in time. Skeleton difference data is determined describing differences between the geometries of the rigid anatomic structures. In a next step, movement instruction data is determined which describes movement to be performed by the rigid anatomic structures to minimize the differences, i.e. to correct the posture of the patient. The movement instruction data is for example determined based on anatomy constraint data which describes anatomical movement constraints for the rigid anatomic structures (e.g. range of motion of a joint). An instruction is displayed (e.g. using augmented reality), guiding the user how to move the rigid anatomic structures so as to correct the patient's posture.

A vascular imaging apparatus and a vascular imaging method are disclosed. The vascular imaging apparatus includes: a light source device, an image acquisition device, a projection device and an image processor. The light source device is configured to emit visible light and infrared light to a body portion to be tested in a time-sharing manner; the image acquisition device is configured to receive the visible light and the infrared light reflected by the body portion to be tested to acquire a visible image and an infrared image respectively; the image processor is configured to perform image processing on the infrared image and the visible image, to acquire a vascular enhancement image of the body portion to be tested; the projection device is configured to project the vascular enhancement image onto the body portion to be tested.

Various portable systems, devices and methods for imaging or visualizing blood vessels or other body tissue to facilitate accurate placement of a needle or other elongate instrument in blood vessels or other body tissue are described herein. In certain variations an imaging system for aiding needle insertion in a patient may include a mountable unit having an illumination source, an image sensor, and a display for displaying an image based on image information from the image sensor. The mountable unit may be configured for attachment to a hand of a user such that the user's hand on which the unit is mounted remains free to hold an object. The display may be positioned next to a needle insertion site during needle insertion by the user such that the needle insertion site and an image of the blood vessel and/or needle are simultaneously within the user's field of view.