A registration device, including a wand, a light guide passing through the wand, and a position sensor fixed to the wand. A light source outputs a modulated beam of light into a light guide proximal end, so that the light is emitted from a light guide distal end toward a surface in proximity to a wand distal tip. A detector receives, from the light guide proximal end, light reflected from the surface into the light guide distal end, and outputs a signal indicative of the reflected light intensity. A processor computes a distance from the distal tip of the wand to the surface by extracting a phase difference between the output beam and the reflected light from the signal, and computes a position of the surface in a sensor frame of reference responsively to the computed distance and the location of the distal tip found from the position sensor.

Surgical instruments are disclosed that are couplable to or have an end effector or a disposable loading unit with an end effector, and at least one micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device operatively connected to the surgical instrument for at least one of sensing a condition, measuring a parameter and controlling the condition and/or parameter.

The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods of using a resection line guide in various medical procedures. A resection line guide may include a first clamp member and a second clamp member configured to be positioned on a first side and a second side generally opposite that of the first side of an anatomical structure, such as, for example, a stomach. The clamp members may be configured to provide a clamping force on the stomach to secure the guide to the stomach. Further, at least one flexible member may be operatively coupled to the clamp members. The flexible member may be configured to be tensioned so as to provide at least a portion of the clamping force on the stomach.

An electronic system for a surgical instrument is disclosed. The electronic system comprises a main power supply circuit configured to supply electrical power to a primary circuit. A supplementary power supply circuit configured to supply electrical power to a secondary circuit. A short circuit protection circuit coupled between the main power supply circuit and the supplementary power supply circuit. The supplementary power supply circuit is configured to isolate itself from the main power supply circuit when the supplementary power supply circuit detects a short circuit condition at the secondary circuit. The supplementary power supply circuit is configured to rejoin the main power supply circuit and supply power to the secondary circuit, when the short circuit condition is remedied.

Provided are a laser control method and a laser irradiation apparatus thereof, which can efficiently perform the laser treatment. The laser control method includes a setting step of setting a guide path on a surface of an object; and an irradiating step of irradiating a laser onto the surface of the object corresponding to the guide path, wherein at least one of a fluence or a frequency of the laser is gradually increased at the beginning stage of the laser irradiation and at least one of the fluence or the frequency of the laser is gradually decreased at the end of the laser irradiation.

A system is provided that furnishes expert procedural guidance based upon patient-specific data gained from surgical instruments incorporating sensors on the instrument's working surface, one or more reference sensors placed about the patient, sensors implanted before, during or after the procedure, the patient's personal medical history, and patient status monitoring equipment. Embodiments include a system having a surgical instrument with a sensor for generating a signal indicative of a property of a subject tissue of the patient, which signal is converted into a current dataset and stored. A processor compares the current dataset with other previously stored datasets, and uses the comparison to assess a physical condition of the subject tissue and/or to guide a procedure being performed on the tissue.

An end effector for use with a surgical stapling instrument is disclosed. The end effector comprises a first jaw, a second jaw movable relative to the first jaw to grasp tissue therebetween, and a staple cartridge. The staple cartridge comprises staples deployable into the tissue. The end effector further comprises a magnetic sensor configured to measure a parameter indicative of an identifying characteristic of the staple cartridge, an impedance sensor configured to measure a parameter indicative of an impedance of the tissue, and a processing unit in communication with the impedance sensor. The processing unit is configured to determine a property of the tissue based on an output of the impedance sensor.

Embodiments describe a light-based medical device that uses light to luminesce tissue, and collect the reflected light, to perform analysis on the reflection characteristics in real-time to detect the type of surrounding tissue as well deeper tissue in the trajectory of the luminescence. Such device can be incorporated inside needles, catheters, tubes or piercing or biopsy tools, surgical blades, surgical tweezers, and so on, to direct their insertions and operations in specific zones. Importantly, because of the easy-to-use design, embodiments can be used without the need of highly trained personnel or expensive hospital equipment. Therefore, embodiments can be utilized in emergency situations that require fast responses, performed in ERs, moving vehicles, ambulances, and battlefields.

A surgical stapling system including a shaft assembly transmits actuation motions from an actuator and an end effector compresses and staples tissue. The end effector comprises an channel; an anvil having a staple forming surface is moveable relative to the channel between open and closed positions; the anvil having a magnet at the distal end; and a staple cartridge removably positionable within the channel. The staple cartridge comprises a body supported for a confronting relationship with the anvil in its closed position; a plurality of staple drivers located within the cartridge body support a staple; a Hall effect sensor located at the distal end of the body; and a microprocessor in communication with the Hall effect sensor. The Hall effect sensor and microprocessor receive power when the staple cartridge is positioned within the channel, and the system is operable to identify the staple cartridge.

The invention relates to a method, an image processor (26) and a medical observation device (1), such as a microscope or endoscope, for observing an object (4) containing a bolus of at least one fluorophore (12). The object (4) is preferably live tissue comprising several types (16, 18, 20) of tissue. According to the method, a set (34) of component signals (36) is provided. Each component signal (36) represents a fluorescence intensity development of the fluorophore (12) over time in a different type of tissue. A time series (8) of input frames (10) is accessed, one input frame (10) after the other. The input frames (10) represent electronically coded still images of the object (4) at subsequent time. Each input frame (10) contains at least one observation area (22) comprising at least one pixel (23). In the observation area (22) of the current input frame (10) of the time series (8), a fluorescent light intensity (I) is determined over at least one fluorescence emission wavelength (15) of the fluorophore (12). This fluorescent light intensity (I.sub.1) is joined with the fluorescence light intensities (I.sub.n) of the observation area (22) of preceding input frames (10) of the time series (8) to generate a time sequence (40) of fluorescent light intensities (I.sub.1, I.sub.n) of the observation area (22). This time sequence (40) is decomposed on in a preferably linear combination (72) of at least some of the component signals (36) of the set (34). A new set (34) of component signals (36) is provided which includes only those component signals (36) which are present in the combination (72). An output frame (46) is generated, in which the observation area (22) is assigned a color from a color space depending on the combination (72) of component signals (36).