A fastener applicator includes a body portion including a handle assembly, a cartridge assembly supported within the body portion, the cartridge assembly including implantable fasteners, a drive assembly supported within the body portion and operatively coupled to the cartridge assembly to engage the implantable fasteners, and an actuation assembly supported within the handle assembly and operatively coupled to the drive assembly to fire a distal-most implantable fastener upon actuation of the actuation assembly. At least one of the implantable fasteners includes a body including a tissue facing surface, a tissue penetrating portion extending from the body, and a capsule affixed to the tissue facing surface of the body, the capsule including radioactive material.

Carriers for embodying radioactive seeds, as well as a device for loading and customizing brachytherapy carriers based on the principles of optimizing a more precise and predictable dosimetry, and adaptable to the geometric challenges of a tumor bed in a real-time setting. The present disclosure relates to a specialized loading device designed to enable a medical team to create a radionuclide carrier for each patient and tumor reliably, reproducibly and efficiently.

Presented systems and methods facilitate efficient and effective generation and delivery of radiation. In one embodiment, a radiation generation component includes a high intensity target that produces Bremsstrahlung radiation in response to impacts by charged particles, wherein the high intensity target is configured with operating limitations based primarily on catastrophic failure mechanisms rather than fatigue failure mechanisms. The high intensity target is configured to be compatible with a loading system of a radiation generation system. The high intensity target can have a catastrophic failure strain percentage in the range of 0.5 to 4.0 percent. The catastrophic failure mechanisms can include at least one selected from the group comprising ultimate tensile strength, fracture strain, and melting point. The high intensity target can have a product life in a low cycle fatigue regime range. The high intensity target can comprise a material with a melting temperature in the range of 800 C to 3,700 C. The high intensity target can be configured to load in an accelerator enclosure. The high intensity target can include an identification feature. Th e Bremsstrahlung radiation can correspond to average dose rates greater than 1.0 greys per second (Gy/s).

A replaceable cartridge can be used in a system for providing a radiation source for brachytherapy. The cartridge configured to be received into a base defining a receptacle. The cartridge can comprise a radiation source. A shield can be configured to receive the radiation source. A guidewire can be coupled to the radiation source. At least one motor can be configured to move the guidewire to thereby adjust the position of the radiation source.

A portable device for insertion of radioactive seeds in percutaneous interstitial brachytherapy applications is described. The device includes: an elongated main body in form of a handpiece; a shielded container of radioactive seeds, received within the main body and having a rotating drum suitable, in use, to release one or more radioactive seeds from the container; means for driving the rotating drum, activatable by an operator and based on lever mechanisms and gears; and means for introducing one or more radioactive seeds in a body site of interest, comprising a substantially wire-shaped pusher. The pusher urges the radioactive seed(s) released from the rotating drum through a cannula unit.

A transparent loading apparatus (also referred to herein as a “loader”) may partially or entirely comprise transparent material that allows light to pass through the loader and provides the viewer (whether manual or automated) a view of a radioactive seed, a seed carrier, a loading needle, etc. within the loader. In some embodiments, carrier material (e.g., collagen and/or other biocompatible material) and radioactive seeds (e.g., including a metal shielding and radioactive isotope) may transmit light to different degrees. For example, certain carriers, such as collagen carriers, may be translucent, while seeds may be opaque (or mostly opaque) to light. The systems discussed herein allow a viewer to detect location of a seed within a loader, and even within a carrier, because of these different light transmissivity characteristics.

A cradle made of radiation-shielding material holds one or more radioactive seeds. The cradle surrounds all but a portion of the seed, and the potion of the cradle that does not surround the seeds creates an aperture through which the radiation escapes the cradle. The cradle reflects and absorbs radiation from the seed, resulting in directional dosing toward diseased tissue and away from healthy tissue. In a preferred embodiment the cradle has four walls and a bottom, forming a cavity into which the seed is secured with biocompatible epoxy. The side opposite the bottom is typically open, but may instead be made of a material that is transparent to radiation. The cradle wall thickness, bottom thickness, and cavity height determine the direction, shape, and intensity of the radiation dispersion. Cradles may be attached to a biocompatible mesh to form a sheet with directional radiation.

Featured is a robot and a needle delivery apparatus. Such a robot comprises a plurality of actuators coupled to control locating any of number of intervention specific medical devices such as intervention specific needle injectors. Such a robot is usable with image guided interventions using any of a number of types of medical imaging devices or apparatuses including MRI. The end-effector can include an automated low needle delivery apparatus that is configured for dose radiation seed brachytherapy injection. Also featured is an automated seed magazine for delivering seeds to such an needle delivery apparatus adapted for brachytherapy seed injection.

Carriers for embodying radioactive seeds, as well as a device for loading and customizing brachytherapy carriers based on the principles of optimizing a more precise and predictable dosimetry, and adaptable to the geometric challenges of a tumor bed in a real-time setting. The present disclosure relates to a specialized loading device designed to enable a medical team to create a radionuclide carrier for each patient and tumor reliably, reproducibly and efficiently.

Featured is a robot and a needle delivery apparatus. Such a robot comprises a plurality of actuators coupled to control locating any of number of intervention specific medical devices such as intervention specific needle injectors. Such a robot is usable with image guided interventions using any of a number of types of medical imaging devices or apparatuses including Mill. The end-effector can include an automated low needle delivery apparatus that is configured for dose radiation seed brachytherapy injection. Also featured is an automated seed magazine for delivering seeds to such an needle delivery apparatus adapted for brachytherapy seed injection.