Abstract: Apparatus for detecting and removing a gas mass from a vascular infusion line, the apparatus comprising: a cartridge, the cartridge comprising: an inlet port; a chamber having a top end, a bottom end and a side wall extending therebetween; an outlet port; a purge port; a first passageway connecting the inlet port to the side wall of the chamber with an upward inclination; a second passageway connecting the bottom end of the chamber to the outlet port; and a third passageway connecting the top end of the chamber to the purge port.

Abstract: A system and method of integrating electromagnetic microsensors into interventional endovascular devices such as guidewires for tracking guidewires within vessels of a body with the use of a surgical navigation system.

Abstract: An instrument guide system for use with a surgical navigation system, the instrument guide system comprising a handle assembly, an instrument attachment assembly, a shaft connecting the handle assembly to the instrument attachment assembly, an electromagnetic sensor assembly removably mounted within an opening in the handle assembly, and an instrument removably attachable within a bore of the instrument attachment assembly.

Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for electromagnetic calibration of an instrument. Certain embodiments provide an electromagnetic instrument calibration system including electromagnetic receiver electronics for receiving electromagnetic field information from an electromagnetic transmitter. The system also includes a calibration mount configured to position the electromagnetic receiver electronics stationary with respect to the calibration mount for calibrating an instrument having an electromagnetic transmitter using the calibration mount and the electromagnetic receiver electronics.

Abstract: A system and method of integrating electromagnetic microsensors into interventional endovascular devices such as guidewires for tracking guidewires within vessels of a body with the use of a surgical navigation system.

Abstract: An instrument guide system for use with a surgical navigation system, the instrument guide system comprising a handle assembly, an instrument attachment assembly, a shaft connecting the handle assembly to the instrument attachment assembly, an electromagnetic sensor assembly removably mounted within an opening in the handle assembly, and an instrument removably attachable within a bore of the instrument attachment assembly.

Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for electromagnetic calibration of an instrument. Certain embodiments provide an electromagnetic instrument calibration system including electromagnetic receiver electronics for receiving electromagnetic field information from an electromagnetic transmitter. The system also includes a calibration mount configured to position the electromagnetic receiver electronics stationary with respect to the calibration mount for calibrating an instrument having an electromagnetic transmitter using the calibration mount and the electromagnetic receiver electronics.

Abstract: A system for navigating and guiding a surgical instrument during a surgical procedure. A transmitter is positioned near a patient's anatomy. A receiver is attached to the surgical instrument. The position of the surgical instrument is tracked using the transmitter and receiver. A processing unit determines the location of the surgical instrument relative to the patient's anatomy and produces images with a pictorial representation of the surgical instrument and the patient's anatomy. The images are displayed on a display. A surgeon can view the images on the display and guide the surgical instrument into position inside the patient. The surgical instrument can be guided inside a patient without continuously producing real time x-ray exposures. Positions of the surgical instrument can be saved and displayed on the display along with the pictorial representation of the surgical instrument in its current position.

Abstract: A tissue pick for use during minimally invasive surgeries includes a tissue grasping member disposed at the end of the tissue pick. The tissue grasping member may be rotated, articulated at an angle, axially displaced or otherwise manipulated by controlling the opposite end of the tissue pick.

Abstract: A self-threading suture anchor assembly and kit includes a suture anchor having an anchor portion at one end and a drive portion with an eyelet at an opposite end, and an elongated suture threading loop with an elongated, substantially rigid gripping member attached thereto. The threading loop is collapsible, yet it maintains a loop shape. The elongated gripping member acts as a wand for manipulation of the loop. Both the threading loop and the elongated gripping member are adapted to be encased in a removable elongated sheath which extends beyond the ends of the loop and gripping member. The assembly is inserted into a cannulated shaft of a rotatable driver which includes a bone-cutting drive bit adapted for gripping the suture anchor at its drive end and for cutting into bone. The distal portion of the elongated sheath extends through a port in the shaft and is frictionally engageable with the shaft by means of an annular retaining element slidably disposed on the shaft.

Abstract: An instrument and kit for harvesting a bone-patella tendon-bone (BTB) graft having substantially cylindrical bone plugs, and a method for harvesting a BTB graft. The instrument comprises two cylindrical shell portions extending along an axis from a drive end to a cutting end. One of the shell portions, which is positionable around a portion of the tendon, includes an axial slot which permits the graft portion of the tendon to extend therethrough. The shell portions interlock together in a hinged and mutually biased engagement to form a cylindrical tube around the graft portion, with a cutting edge that extends a full 360 degrees about the axis of rotation. Bone plugs obtained using the instrument are fully circular in cross-section for substantially their entire length.

Abstract: Apparatus for use in the diagnosis and treatment of strictures in a biliary duct, urinary tract or pancreatic tract. The apparatus includes a dual lumen catheter device. One lumen size is sized to accommodate a guidewire. A second, parallel lumen has a non-circular cross-section and carries a cytology brush at one end that couples through an operator to a manipulator at another end. The cytology brush has an effective diameter that is greater than the diameter of the catheter device. Brush cytology samples are obtained without removing the guidewire from a stricture and without introducing any relative motion between the guidewire and the catheter. As the cytology brush is retracted into the non-circular lumen, its bristles compact around the operator for storage within the lumen. A predetermined arrangement of markers at the distal end of the catheter facilitates the measurement of stricture length by direct endoscopic visualization.

Abstract: Apparatus for use in the diagnosis and treatment of strictures in a biliary duct, urinary tract or pancreatic tract. The apparatus includes a dual lumen catheter device. One lumen size is sized to accommodate a guidewire. A second, parallel lumen has a non-circular cross-section and carries a cytology brush at one end that couples through an operator to a manipulator at another end. The cytology brush has an effective diameter that is greater than the diameter of the catheter device. Brush cytology samples are obtained without removing the guidewire from a stricture and without introducing any relative motion between the guidewire and the catheter. As the cytology brush is retracted into the non-circular lumen, its bristles compact around the operator for storage within the lumen. A predetermined arrangement of markers at the distal end of the catheter facilitates the measurement of stricture length by direct endoscopic visualization.

Abstract: Apparatus for dispensing a plurality of ligating bands individually and sequentially. A support, attached to the distal end of an endoscope, carries the plurality of ligating bands at axially spaced positions along an exterior surface. The distal ends of each set of independent displacement filaments each ligating band releasably attach to the distal edge of the dispenser. Each filament loops around the corresponding ligating band and returns past the distal edge of the dispenser and through the endoscope to the proximal end thereof. When a physician pulls a set of filaments proximally, the loop in each filament advances the corresponding ligating band off the distal edge of the dispenser.

Abstract: Apparatus for dispensing a plurality of ligating bands individually and sequentially. A support, attached to the distal end of an endoscope, carries the plurality of ligating bands at axially spaced positions along an exterior surface. The distal ends of each set of independent displacement filaments each ligating band releasably attach to the distal edge of the dispenser. Each filament loops around the corresponding ligating band and returns past the distal edge of the dispenser and through the endoscope to the proximal end thereof. When a physician pulls a set of filaments proximally, the loop in each filament advances the corresponding ligating band off the distal edge of the dispenser.