Disclosed herein is a system, apparatus and method directed to placing a medical device into a body of a patient, each performing or including operations of providing a broadband incident light signal to a plurality of core fibers of a multi-core optical fiber, receiving reflected light signals of different spectral width, processing the reflected light signals associated with the plurality of core fibers to determine (i) a physical state of the multi-core optical fiber relating to the medical device including the multi-core optical fiber, and (ii) an orientation of the multi-core optical fiber relative to a reference frame of the body. Additional operations include generating a display illustrating the physical state of the multi-core optical fiber based at least on the orientation determined during processing of the reflected light. Typically, the display is a two-dimensional representation of the multi-core optical fiber in accordance with the determined orientation.

A lanyard device (10) having a flexible neck cord (12) and at least one strain sensor (30) arranged for sensing strain in the flexible neck cord; and a personal lanyard monitoring system including the lanyard device (10). A position recognition unit (52) is configured for comparing strain data obtained from the at least one strain sensor (30) to predetermined strain data, and recognizing a position of the flexible neck cord (12) in dependence on a result of the comparison.

A system and apparatus comprising a multi-sensor catheter for right heart and pulmonary artery catheterization is disclosed. The multi-sensor catheter comprises multi-lumen catheter tubing into which at least three optical pressure sensors, and their respective optical fibers, are inserted. The three optical pressure sensors are arranged within a distal end portion of the catheter, spaced apart lengthwise within the distal end portion for measuring pressure concurrently at each sensor location. The sensor locations are configured for placement of at least one sensor in each of the right atrium, the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery, for concurrent measurement of pressure at each sensor location. The sensor arrangement may further comprise an optical thermo-dilution sensor, and another lumen is provided for fluid injection for thermo-dilution measurements. The catheter may comprise an inflatable balloon tip and a guidewire lumen, and preferably has an outside diameter of 6 French or less.

A drape for an input control console of an elongate device may comprise a main drape section configured to fit over the input control console via a main opening at one end of the main drape section. The drape may also comprise a plurality of pockets. Each of the plurality of pockets may include a pocket opening that is attached to a respective secondary opening in the main drape section. Each of the plurality of pockets may be configured to be anchored, at the pocket opening, to a side surface of a respective raised ring or bezel on the input control console using a respective tightening element.

A biomedical pressure sensor for measuring the pressure in a fluid includes an optical fiber having at least one measurement section arranged at a distance from a distal end of the optical fiber. The biomedical pressure sensor further includes a deforming member on the outer surface of the optical fiber at the location of the measurement section that is arranged for locally deforming the optical fiber under the influence of the applied pressure of the fluid to be measured. The measurement section is arranged for measuring said local deformation of the optical fiber.

The present disclosure provides an optical palpation device for evaluating a mechanical property of a sample material. The device comprises a body having a sensing portion and a sensing layer positioned at the sensing portion of the body and having a sensing surface positioned for direct or indirect contact with a surface area of the sample material. The sensing layer is deformable and has a predetermined deformation-dependent optical property. The device further comprises a light detector positioned to detect light transmitted through at least a portion of the sensing layer. The optical palpation device is arranged such that, when the sensing surface of the sensing layer is in direct or indirect contact with the surface area of the sample material and a pressure is applied through both the sensing layer and at least a portion of the surface area of the sample material, because of the predetermined deformation or pressure-dependent optical property of the sensing layer the mechanical property of the sample material is measurable by detecting the light that transmitted through at least a portion of the sensing layer.

The invention relates to a position determining device for determining a position of an elongate object within a tubular structure, said position determining device comprising a first providing unit for providing a first distribution of curvature values at a plurality of first points along a path within the tubular structure. The position determining device further comprises a second providing unit for providing a second distribution of strain values or of curvature values at a plurality of points along the object, and a position determining unit for determining the position of the object relative to the path on the basis of the first and second distributions.

Embodiments generally relate to a device for monitoring air pressure in the body of a patient. The device comprises a tube comprising a feeding lumen; a sensor lumen positioned parallel to the feeding lumen; at least one sensor positioned in the sensor lumen; and at least one perforation positioned to expose the at least one sensor to an air pressure within the body of a patient when the device is positioned at least partially in the airway of the patient. The at least one sensor is configured to generate data related to the pressure to which the sensor has been exposed.

A system and method for determining the length of a non-shape-sensed interventional device (102) which includes a shape-sensed guidewire (106) that is received in the lumen (103) of the device. A hub (107) is configured to secure a position of the shape-sensed guidewire and interventional device. A registration module (124) is configured to register a position of the distal tip (117) of the non-shape-sensed interventional device to a position of the shape-sensed guidewire. A determination module (126) determines the length of the non-shape-sensed interventional device using a known position of the device in the hub and the position of the distal tip of the device. The system includes a detection module (146) that receives curvature data from the shape-sensed guidewire and is configured to determine the state of the shape-sensed guidewire with respect to an interventional device.

For the field of determining the position of an invasive device (1) a solution for improving the localization of the invasive device (1) is specified. This is achieved by an arrangement and a method for determining the position of an invasive device (1), wherein an optical shape sensing system for sensing a position and/or shape of the invasive device (1) is provided, wherein the system is arranged to localize at least one point P.sub.i on the invasive device (1) at a position x.sub.i, y.sub.i, z.sub.i, with some en-or margin (2Δx.sub.i, 2Δy.sub.i, 2Δz.sub.i) in a region of interest (3), localizing and reconstructing at least one point P.sub.i on the invasive device (1) at a position x.sub.i, y.sub.i, z.sub.i, with some error margin (2Δx.sub.i, 2Δy.sub.i, 2Δz.sub.i) in a region of interest (3) by the optical shape sensing system. An MRI system is also provided for measuring the position x.sub.i, y.sub.i, z.sub.i of the point P.sub.i on the invasive device (1) within the error margin in the region of interest at least in one spatial direction by the MRI system, wherein a signal of the magnetization in the error margin (2Δx.sub.i, 2Δy.sub.i, 2Δz.sub.i) is read out by the MRI system and a position of the invasive device (1) is determined based on the signal. The position x.sub.i, y.sub.i, z.sub.i, of the point P.sub.i on the invasive device (1) in the region of interest (3) determined by the optical shape sensing system is corrected with the x.sub.i, y.sub.i, z.sub.i, of the point P.sub.i on the invasive device (1) in the region of interest (3) determined by the MRI system by a calculating system to an actual position of the point P.sub.i on the invasive device (1).