For robotically operating a catheter, a medical catheter is controlled by rotation of the catheter as well as steering in one or more planes of a distal end of the catheter. To robotically rotate the catheter, a handle is rotated. The steering is performed separately using one or more knobs on the handle. The rotation of the handle complicates the robotic control of the knob. A mechanical decoupling is used so that rotation of the handle maintains the position of the knob relative to the handle. Gearing or transmission is used to avoid independent control of the knob and handle rotation. In an alternative or additional approach, the handle may be robotically controlled while also guiding the catheter shaft spaced away from the handle, allowing fine-tuned control of the catheter at the access point to the patient.

Intravascular catheters that include a handle assembly with first and second handle actuators, where the actuators are adapted to separately control inner and outer catheter shafts in at least one of axial displacement, deflection, or rotation. The catheters may also include a medical tool secured to the outer shaft.

An electronic endoscope system includes: an electronic endoscope including, at a distal end portion, an image sensor that captures an image of a living tissue, and an ultrasound probe that applies ultrasonic waves to the living tissue to obtain an echo signal; a captured image processor including an image processing unit that processes an imaging signal output from the image sensor and generates a captured image; and an ultrasonic image processor including an ultrasonic image processing unit that processes the echo signal output from the ultrasound probe and generates an ultrasonic image, a noise detection unit that detects a periodic noise component included in the echo signal and generated at a level equal to or higher than a preset threshold level, and a noise suppression unit that performs processing of suppressing the detected noise component.

Intravascular catheters that include a handle assembly with first and second handle actuators, where the actuators are adapted to separately control inner and outer catheter shafts in at least one of axial displacement, deflection, or rotation. The catheters may also include a medical tool secured to the outer shaft.

Medical tool positioning and control devices, systems, and methods. Handle assemblies that allow a steerable shaft to be steered, while allowing the separate movement of a medical tool. The handle assemblies can allow for rotation and axial movement of the medical tool, and optionally with an actuator disposed distal to a second actuator that controls steering of the steerable shaft.

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.

An ultrasound catheter and an ultrasound catheter system that allow an operator to identify a direction of an image acquired by a transducer. The ultrasound catheter includes: an outer sheath including an accommodation lumen extending from a proximal end to a distal end ; a drive shaft movable in an inner sheath along an axial center of the outer sheath; a transducer disposed in the accommodation lumen and fixed to a distal end of the drive shaft; and a radiopaque distal end marker disposed at a distal end portion of the outer sheath, in which the distal end marker includes a marker identification portion extending along the axial center on a part in a circumferential direction, and a marker comparison portion formed in a circumferential direction or a radial direction of the outer sheath with a length and/or an arrangement different from that of the marker identification portion.

An ultrasound imaging probe includes a housing, a circuit board assembly disposed within the housing including a microcontroller, and a motion sensor operably connected to the microcontroller and capable of sensing motion of the housing based on at least one operator interaction with the housing to generate sensor data, a memory chip disposed within the housing and storing information regarding particular operational configurations for the ultrasound imaging probe associated with stored sensor data representing types of stored operator interactions, and a power source disposed at least partially within the housing and operably connected to the assembly. The microcontroller is configured to receive sensor data from the motion sensor in response to the operator interaction with the housing, to compare the received sensor data with the stored sensor data, and to change an operational configuration of the ultrasound probe in response to matching the received sensor data with stored sensor data.

For robotically operating a catheter, a medical catheter is controlled by rotation of the catheter as well as steering in one or more planes of a distal end of the catheter. To robotically rotate the catheter, a handle is rotated. The steering is performed separately using one or more knobs on the handle. The rotation of the handle complicates the robotic control of the knob. A mechanical decoupling is used so that rotation of the handle maintains the position of the knob relative to the handle. Gearing or transmission is used to avoid independent control of the knob and handle rotation. In an alternative or additional approach, the handle may be robotically controlled while also guiding the catheter shaft spaced away from the handle, allowing fine-tuned control of the catheter at the access point to the patient.

A displacement measurement apparatus includes an ultrasound sensor transmitting ultrasounds to an object in accordance with a drive signal, and detecting ultrasound echo signals generated in the object to output echo signals; a driving and processing unit supplying the drive signal to the sensor, and processing the echo signals from the sensor to obtain ultrasound echo data; and a controller controlling the driving and processing unit to yield an ultrasound echo data frame at each of plural different temporal phases based on the ultrasound echo data obtained by scanning the object. The ultrasound echo data has one of local single octant spectra, local single quadrant spectra, and local single half-band-sided spectra in a frequency domain. The ultrasound echo data is obtained from plural same bandwidth spectra. A data processing unit calculates a displacement at each local position or distribution thereof in at least one of axial, lateral, and elevational directions by solving simultaneous equations derived at each local position via implementing a predetermined displacement measurement method on the ultrasound echo data yielded at the plural different temporal phases with respect to at least one of the axial, lateral, and elevational carrier frequencies and the phase, or the one of the local single octant spectra, the local single quadrant spectra, and the local single half-band-sided spectra.