ENDOSCOPE STRUCTURES AND TECHNIQUES FOR NAVIGATING TO A TARGET IN BRANCHED STRUCTURE
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods employing a small gauge steerable catheter including a locatable guide with a sheath, particularly as an enhancement to a bronchoscope. A typical procedure is as follows. The location of a target in a reference coordinate system is detected or imported. The catheter is navigated to the target which tracking the distal tip of the guide in the reference coordinate system. Insertion of the catheter is typically via a working channel of a convention bronchoscope. Once the tip of the catheter is positioned at the target, the guide is withdrawn, leaving the sheath secured in place. The sheath is then used as a guide channel to direct a medical tool to target.
6 Citations
21 Claims
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1. (canceled)
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2. A method for steering a catheter through a branched structure to a target location, the method comprising:
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providing a flexible, steerable catheter including a sensor element, the sensor element being part of a position measuring system, the position measuring system determining a position and a pointing direction of a tip of the flexible, steerable catheter based on data from the sensor element; identifying the target location; detecting advancement of the flexible, steerable catheter into the branched structure; and displaying a representation of a current position of the flexible, steerable catheter in the branched structure, a representation of a target, a representation of a route to the target, a representation of the pointing direction of the tip of the flexible, steerable catheter, and a representation of a direction towards the target location, wherein the flexible, steerable catheter is a flexible bronchoscope. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for depicting a position and pointing direction of a catheter in a branched structure comprising:
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providing a flexible, steerable catheter with a sensor element located in the flexible, steerable catheter, the sensor element being part of a position measuring system, the position measuring system determining a position and pointing direction of a distal portion of the flexible, steerable catheter based on data from the sensor element; identifying a target; detecting advancement of the flexible, steerable catheter into the branched structure; and displaying a representation of a current position of the distal portion of the flexible, steerable catheter in the branched structure, a representation of the target in the branched structure, a representation of a route to the target, a representation of at least one parameter defined by a geometrical relation between a pointing direction of the distal portion of the flexible, steerable catheter and a pointing direction to the target. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method comprising:
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acquiring a computer tomographic image data set of a luminal network; generating a virtual model of the luminal network from the computer tomographic image data set of the luminal network, the virtual model including a representation of a target; generating a pathway through the virtual model of the luminal network to the target; registering the virtual model with a luminal network of a patient; determining a position and pointing direction of a distal portion of a flexible catheter relative to the virtual model; detecting a change in position or pointing direction of the distal portion of the flexible catheter relative to the virtual model; and displaying a representation of the position and pointing direction of the distal portion of the flexible catheter. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification