A surgical access assembly and method of use is disclosed. The surgical access assembly comprises an outer sheath and an obturator. The outer sheath and obturator are configured to be delivered to an area of interest within the brain. Either the outer sheath or the obturator may be configured to operate with a navigational system to track the location of either within the brain. Once positioned at a desired location, the obturator is removed, leaving a distal end of the outer sheath adjacent an area of interest, and creating a working corridor. Interrogation of the area of interest may be performed to evaluate a disorder and/or abnormality, as well as evaluate treatment regimes. Interventional devices may also be introduced to the area of interest, as well as a variety of treatments.

A method and system for calibrating fluorescence data in a multimodality image acquired from a vessel imaged by an imaging catheter. A fluorescence signal acquired by a first modality is calibrated by applying a first calibration factor based on a lumen distance and/or radiation angle from the catheter to the vessel wall. If a parameter of the calibrated fluorescence signal is different from a predetermined condition, a user is prompted to manually select a lumen boundary and/or a region of interest (ROI) on the image of the vessel. An optical attenuation property of the selected boundary and/or ROI is calculated based on backscattered radiation collected by a second modality, and the fluorescence signal is further calibrated by applying a second calibration factor based on the optical attenuation property.

Surgical sealing ports for use with surgical instruments for access of a natural body orifice are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a surgical sealing port includes a seal housing and at least one retention element. The seal housing is configured to be at least partially disposed within a natural body orifice and defining a plurality of ports. The plurality of ports includes at least one first port configured to control the ingress and egress of fluid between an interior volume of the natural body orifice and an ambient environment, and at least one second port that is configured to form a seal around an instrument inserted therethrough. The at least one retention element is arranged on an exterior surface of the housing and configured to affix the housing to the natural body orifice. Methods for using the same are also provided.

An intelligent surgical tool control system, comprising a tool management system; an indicating means to indicate at least one surgical event; a communicable database for storing, for each item of interest, its identity, its present 3D position and at least one previous 3D position; and at least one processor to identify, from a surgical event, an output surgical procedure. The tool management system can comprise a maneuvering mechanism to maneuver a surgical tool in at least two dimensions; and a controller to control at least one of activation and deactivation of a surgical tool and articulation of a surgical tool. The indicating means can indicate a surgical event selected from movement of a moving element and presence of an item of interest, where movement is determinable if the current 3D position of the moving element is substantially different from a previous 3D position of the same.

For determining a precise orientation and positioning of an endoscope in an electromagnetic field, an endoscope device has a proximal insertion head and has a shaft extending distally therefrom having a center axis. The shaft extends with at least one elongated lumen through the device. A sensor rod has at least two sensor coils arranged with finite spacing in relation to one another in the longitudinal direction. The at least two sensor coils are oriented in relation to one another at a finite angle.

The disclosed apparatus, systems and methods relate to the use of optical nanoparticles in the illumination and imaging of tissues such as cancer tissues. Optical nanoparticles such as upconverting nanoparticles can be introduced into a patient and illuminated at a first time and wavelength and then imaged at a second time and wavelength to improve resolution and reduce imager size.

This disclosure describes an interactive augmented reality system for improving surgeon's view and context awareness during laparoscopic and video assisted surgeries. Instead of purely relying on computer vision algorithms for image registration between pre-operation (or intra-operation) images/models and later intra-operation scope images, the system can implement an interactive mechanism where surgeons may provide supervised information in initial calibration phase of the augmented reality function, thus achieving high accuracy in image registration. Besides the initialization phase before operation starts, interaction between surgeon and the system can also happens during the surgery. Specifically, patient tissue might move or deform during surgery, caused by for example cutting. The augmented reality system can re-calibrate during surgery when image registration accuracy deteriorates, by seeking additional supervised labeling from surgeons. The augmented reality system can improve surgeon's view during surgery, by utilizing surgeon's guidance sporadically to achieve high image registration accuracy.

A surgical device comprising: (1) a handpiece having a distal end portion; (2) a tubular member extending from the distal end portion, the tubular member having a lumen therethrough, the lumen comprising: (a) a proximal lumen portion, (b) a distal lumen portion, (c) a first central lumen portion, and (d) a second central lumen portion, the second central portion being located between the proximal lumen portion and the first central lumen portion, wherein the distal lumen portion diverges as the distal lumen portion extends away from the first central lumen portion in a distal direction, and the second central lumen portion diverges as the second central lumen portion extends away from the first central lumen portion in a proximal direction and: wherein the tubular member has wall with a substantially uniform thickness about the first central lumen portion.

An ultrasound probe (104) includes a probe head (134). The probe head includes a transducer array (136) with a transducing surface (137), an instrument guide (142), and a light source (140). A method includes emitting a light beam, from a light source disposed on and adjacent to a transducer array of an ultrasound imaging probe, in a direction opposite of a transducing surface of the transducer array, at an inside wall of a cavity of a subject or object. A laparoscopic ultrasound imaging probe includes a shaft, a body, an articulating member that couples the probe head, and a handle coupled to the elongate shaft. The articulating probe head includes a transducer array that generates an ultrasound signal that traverses an image plane of the transducer array, an instrument guide, and a light source arranged to emit light in a direction opposite of the image plane.

The system and method for laparoscopic repair of abdominal wall hernia using umbrella mesh includes an umbrella mesh having a substantially circular mesh attached to an umbrella-like frame having a plurality of radially spaced spokes resiliently mounted at a hub, the spokes being hollow and housing helical tacks. The umbrella mesh is folded and mounted on an umbrella load cartridge. The cartridge may be loaded on the distal end of a pistol-grip laparoscopic instrument having a rotary control for orienting the mesh over the weakened area, a mesh release handle for gradually opening and releasing the mesh, and a firing handle for firing helical tacks from the spokes for fastening the mesh to the supporting abdominal wall.