A medical guidewire assembly is movable through a guidewire introducer. A piercing stylet device extends from the medical guidewire assembly. The piercing stylet device is configured to puncture tissue of a patient in response to movement of the medical guidewire assembly through the guidewire introducer toward tissue. An identification device is mounted to the medical guidewire assembly. The identification device is spaced apart from the piercing stylet device. The identification device is configured to enhance the detectible visibility of the piercing stylet device.

Patient fluid management systems, particularly for use in treating patients at various stages of heart failure, are disclosed. Disclosed systems employ vascular dimension monitoring sensors to provide accurate, early, real-time estimation of circulating blood volume as an input metric to the system control, allowing for more accurate modulation of treatment based on the patient's current fluid volume state.

Described here are methods and systems for the manipulation of ovarian tissues. The methods and systems may be used in the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The systems and methods may also be useful in the treatment of infertility associated with PCOS.

A guide wire deployment system that can be utilized as a pre-surgical procedure without the need for radiology imaging. The clip marker would include light and sonic sensors to determine angular orientation and distance from the needle. Wireless communication between the handheld insertion device and the clip marker would provide information to guide the needle to the clip marker location. The guide wire would then be pushed from the needle and laid in a path to outside the patient.

Disclosed biopsy markers are adapted to serve as localization markers during a surgical procedure. Adaptation includes incorporation of materials detectable under ultrasound during surgery, as well as features for co-registration with image guidance or other real-time imaging technologies during surgery. Such biopsy markers, when used as localization markers, improve patient comfort and reduce challenges in surgical coordination and surgery time. Additional disclosed biopsy markers are adapted to serve as monitoring and/or detection apparatuses. Localization of an implanted marker may be done with ultrasound technology. Ultrasound image data is analyzed to identify the implanted marker. A distance to the marker or a lesion may be determined and displayed. The determined distance may be a distance between the ultrasound probe and the marker or lesion, a distance between the marker or lesion and an incision instrument, and/or a distance between the ultrasound probe and the incision instrument.

A guiding probe for identifying a location within an anatomical region of a patient. The guiding probe can optionally: a graspable portion, an insertion portion and an emitter. The insertion portion can be coupled to the graspable portion. The insertion portion can have an elongated extent and a longitudinal axis. The insertion portion can include a flexible section and a bending section. The bending section can be positioned distal of the flexible section. The emitter can be coupled to a distal end portion of the insertion portion. The emitter can be configured for use within the anatomical region to emit a signal that can be detectable extracorporeally of the patient whereby the signal enables the location within the anatomical region to be identified extracorporeally for therapy to be applied.

A system for highlighting an instrument in an image includes a probe (122) for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic energy to and from a volume and a marker device (120) configured to respond to a received ultrasonic signal and emit an ultrasonic signal after a delay. The ultrasonic signal includes one or more pulses configured to generate a marker, when rendered, of a given size at a position within an image. A medical instrument (102) is disposed in the volume and includes the marker device. A control module (124) is stored in memory and is configured to interpret the ultrasonic energy received from the probe and from the marker device to determine a three dimensional location of the medical instrument and to highlight the three dimensional location of the marker device with the marker in the image.

A medical needle location device (10) is disclosed. The device (10) has a housing (12) arranged to be gripped by a user and a needle (20) supported by the housing (12). The needle (20) depends from the housing (12) towards a needle tip (14B). The housing (12) comprises an excitation mechanism (28) for applying an oscillatory motion to the needle (20) during location within the body.

Methods for patient self-monitoring of vascular lumen dimensions, in particular in the inferior vena cava (IVC) for determining heart failure status of a patient. Related therapy systems as well as monitoring and therapy methods are also disclosed.

An insertion needle has a light guide member for guiding light emitted from a light source, a light emitting portion for emitting light guided by the light guide member, and a photoacoustic wave generating portion for generating photoacoustic waves caused by light emitted from the light emitting portion. A photoacoustic image generation unit generates a photoacoustic image based on the detection signal of the photoacoustic waves. A distal end candidate extraction unit extracts a distal end candidate region from the shallow side of the image based on the strength of the detection signal of the photoacoustic waves. An image output unit displays the extracted distal end candidate region on an image display unit.