A selectively actuated textile includes one or more pieces of fabric having one or more circumferentially constrained channels and one or more hollow elastic tubes located within the circumferentially constrained channels and configured to receive a working fluid. Selectively providing or removing working fluid from the hollow elastic tubes provides for selective actuation of the textile.

A device for fracturing calcifications in heart valves including a catheter (12, 22, 42) configured for percutaneous delivery to a heart valve, an fracture-producing element (14, 26, 46, 64, 66,82, 124, 152) disposed at a distal portion of the catheter and operative to vibrate and mechanically fracture calcifications when brought into contact with a calcification at a leaflet of the heart valve, and an energy source (34, 47, 79, 98, 152) operative to vibrate the fracture-producing element so that the fracture-producing element fractures the calcification without necessarily removing the calcification from the leaflet. The device may further comprise a valvuloplasty balloon (30), an embolic protection net (56) and a protective sleeve (110, 130).

Disclosed are nozzles and nozzle assemblies of liquid jet-forming surgical instruments, surgical instruments employing such nozzles and/or nozzle assemblies, and methods of fabricating the nozzle assemblies in forming surgical instruments. Also, disclosed are liquid jet-forming surgical instruments including both liquid jet-forming nozzles and optional evacuation lumens, which when provided can be configured to receive the liquid jet and evacuate the liquid forming the liquid jet. Certain embodiments of such surgical instruments include inventive nozzle alignment component(s) to facilitate alignment of the nozzles and evacuation lumen upon assembly. In certain embodiments, surgical instruments are provided that include a nozzle that is shaped to form a liquid jet, which has surfaces that are optically smooth. In certain embodiments, the nozzle has a configuration enabling the nozzle to form a liquid jet that has the ability to remain collimated over longer distances than is typically achievable with conventional liquid jet surgical instrument nozzles having the same ratio of nozzle length to minimum inner diameter of the jet opening. In certain embodiments, nozzle assemblies comprising an operative assembly of at least two subcomponents, which together provide a nozzle are provided. In certain embodiments, the at least two sub-components may comprise a nozzle-providing component, such as a nozzle ring, and a holder that is configured to retain and position the nozzle-providing component in the nozzle assembly. In certain embodiments, the nozzle-providing component can comprise a liquid flow passage having a diameter that continuously decreases along at least a portion of its length.

A robotic surgical system includes a hydraulic drive system and a surgical instrument removably positioned in operative engagement with the hydraulic drive system.

The invention relates to a fastening device for implant device, the fastening device comprising at least two fastening sections, where a first fastening section is arranged with a through hole, a second fastening section is arranged with a protruding part, and where said protruding part is in place in said through hole in a fastening device locking state, where the protruding part on the second fastening section is arranged with a through channel having an inlet and an outlet, said through channel being arranged to receive an implant device feed member, said inlet and outlet being accessible from the exterior of the fastening device in said fastening device locking state, wherein the first fastening section is securely locked to the second fastening section when, in said fastening device locking state, said implant device feed member is in place in the through channel and protrudes from both the inlet and the outlet of said through channel. The invention further relates to an implant device comprising a fastening device, and a method for securely locking a first fastening section of a fastening device for an implant device to a second section of a fastening device for an implant device.

An improved flexible endoscopic instrument to precisely and efficiently obtains samples of flat polyps and multiple polyps from a patient by debriding one or more polyps and retrieving the debrided polyps without having to alternate between using a separate cutting tool and a separate sample retrieving tool and may be used with an endoscope. In one aspect, the cutting tool is coupled to a flexible torque coil or torque rope that is configured to transfer rotational energy from a powered actuator through the length of the endoscope onto the cutting tool.

Methods and apparatus are provided to facilitate the minimally invasive removal of tissue biopsies and to facilitate the direct approach to anesthetizing the chest wall, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. A pull-type cutting device 1 comprises two coaxially nested tubes, each extending from a proximal end 21 to a distal end 22. The first tube 61 defines a guide wire lumen 23 for slidingly receiving a guide wire. The second tube 63 extends over the first tube 60 and coupled thereto at the distal end 22 defining an expandable portion 13 adjacent the distal end 22. The second tube 63 defines an inflation lumen 25 extending from the shaft proximal end 21 to the expandable portion 13. The inflation lumen 25 communicates inflation fluid from the proximal end 21 to the expandable portion 13 so as to inflate and deploy the expandable portion 13. Disposed adjacent the shaft distal end 22 is a cutting head 10 comprising the expandable portion 13 having a cutting portion 11 distal from the shaft distal end 22.

Articulation devices, systems, methods for articulation, and methods for fabricating articulation structures will often include simple balloon arrays, with inflation of the balloons interacting with elongate skeletal support structures so as to locally alter articulation of the skeleton. The skeleton may comprise a simple helical coil or interlocking helical channels, and the array can be used to locally deflect or elongate an axis of the coil under control of a processor. Liquid inflation fluid may be directed so as to pressurize the balloons from an inflation fluid canister, and may vaporize within a plenum or the channels or balloons of the articulation system, with the inflation system preferably including valves controlled by the processor. The articulation structures can be employed in minimally invasive medical catheter systems, and also for industrial robotics, for supporting imaging systems, for entertainment and consumer products, and the like.

A positioning device is provided for delivering or guiding a surgical device into a lumen of a body vessel to a position adjacent target tissue. The device includes a housing, an elongate sleeve, and a source of pressurized fluid. The sleeve has a first end coupled to a delivery side of the housing, a second end positioned on a return side of the housing, and an inverted distal portion positioned between the first and second ends. One second end of the sleeve can be furled about a support member supported on the housing. A distal portion of the sleeve defines a cavity that communicates with a pressure chamber within the housing. When pressurized fluid is directed into the pressure chamber, the pressurized fluid flows into the cavity of the distal portion of the sleeve to advance the sleeve away from the housing.

A robotic platform system having a lower stage with a motorized cartesian carriage, an upper stage, and a needle insertion module that connects both stages together.