Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for stabilizing a catheter during a surgical procedure. In particular, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a stabilizing surgical delivery apparatus that comprises a catheter and a plurality of micro-barbs located on an external surface of the catheter, wherein the micro-barbs are minimally exposed when the catheter is in a linear position and fully exposed when the catheter is in an articulated, non-linear position. The micro-barbs contact or may become embedded in an endolumenal surface opposite the surgical site to provide stabilization to the catheter during the surgical procedure.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention relates to methods for performing a surgical procedure. In particular, an embodiment of the present invention is directed to methods for performing a surgical procedure, using a delivery catheter containing a laser fiber assembly. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method of performing a surgical procedure comprises the steps of: advancing a delivery catheter to a procedure specific area; activating a laser fiber assembly disposed within the delivery catheter; and advancing the laser fiber assembly to create a treatment specific hole at the procedure specific area.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a stent assembly for use in temporarily securing a surgical component during a surgical procedure. The stent assembly includes a catheter assembly having at least one primary passageway extending there through. The stent assembly further includes a securing assembly for exerting a force against the surgical component for temporarily securing the surgical component during the surgical procedure. The securing assembly includes a portion that extends through the at least one primary passageway. The catheter assembly may include a secondary passageway. The secondary passageway is adapted to receive a guide device therein. The securing assembly has a retracted position and an extended position. The securing assembly exerts a force against the surgical component while the securing means is in the extended position. The securing assembly may contain a coating which increases the gripping force of the securing assembly.

Abstract: An insertion apparatus comprises an introducer sheath, a surgical component, at least two attachment wires, and a longitudinal wire. The insertion apparatus is used for deploying a surgical component to a site in a vessel. The introducer sheath has a lumen, a proximal opening and a distal opening with an appropriate diameter and length allowing fro insertion and navigation through the vessel. The surgical component has a tube portion with a top and at least one limb. The surgical component corresponds to the site in the vessel and fits within the lumen of the introducer sheath. The attachment wires have a first and a second end. The first end is releasably connected to the top of the surgical component and the second end converges above the top of the surgical component. The activation of a releasing mechanism releases the first end from the top of the surgical component.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a catheter hand-piece apparatus for use in surgical procedures to control the positioning and functioning of a catheter assembly. The catheter hand-piece apparatus includes a handle, which is connected to a catheter assembly, and a fastener module located within the handle. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the handle comprises a clear molded lid that is pivotally attached between two molded enclosures, a tubular axle located between the enclosure sections and attached thereto by a snap ring, and a nosepiece, which is attached to a catheter sheath of the catheter assembly. The interchangeable fastener module may be replaced mid-procedure and includes an irrigation port and a flexible sheath, which is attached to the port and has a tubular adjustment knob slidably positioned about it. The knob may be interchangeably mounted to the handle.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a delivery catheter assembly for advancing a surgical device to a desired location within a vessel during a surgical procedure. The delivery catheter assembly includes an inner sheath assembly through which the surgical device is advanced to the desired location within the vessel. The delivery catheter assembly further includes an outer sheath assembly surrounding the inner sheath assembly. In accordance with the present invention, at least one of the inner sheath assembly and the outer sheath assembly has an angular configuration at a predetermined time during the surgical procedure. The present invention further includes an adjusting assembly for creating the angular configuration of at least one of the inner sheath assembly and the outer sheath assembly. The adjusting assembly may include at least one pull wire positioned within one of the inner sheath and the outer sheath. Furthermore, the inner sheath assembly is movable with respect to the outer sheath assembly.

Abstract: A flash programmable microprocessor-based control module is operated in a manner to protect the integrity of event data stored in the programmable memory of the module while permitting authorized manufacturing and field alteration of the programmable memory with a Download and Execute routine. The Download and Execute routine is resident in a designated sector of the module's read-only memory, and download access to the module's random access memory after module manufacture has been completed is denied. During manufacture of the module, and during field programming of the controller prior to the writing of event data, the programmable memory may be externally altered by an authorized service tool by transferring the Download and Execute routine from read-only memory to random access memory for execution by the module's microprocessor, and downloading the new data or code over a data link coupling the service tool to the module.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a stent assembly for use in temporarily securing a surgical component during a surgical procedure. The stent assembly includes a catheter assembly having at least one primary passageway extending there through. The stent assembly further includes a securing assembly for exerting a force against the surgical component for temporarily securing the surgical component during the surgical procedure. The securing assembly includes a portion that extends through the at least one primary passageway. The catheter assembly may include a secondary passageway. The secondary passageway is adapted to receive a guide device therein. The securing assembly has a retracted position and an extended position. The securing assembly exerts a force against the surgical component while the securing means is in the extended position. The securing assembly may contain a coating which increases the gripping force of the securing assembly.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a delivery catheter assembly for advancing a surgical device to a desired location within a vessel during a surgical procedure. The delivery catheter assembly includes an inner sheath assembly through which the surgical device is advanced to the desired location within the vessel. The delivery catheter assembly further includes an outer sheath assembly surrounding the inner sheath assembly. In accordance with the present invention, at least one of the inner sheath assembly and the outer sheath assembly has an angular configuration at a predetermined time during the surgical procedure. The present invention further includes an adjusting assembly for creating the angular configuration of at least one of the inner sheath assembly and the outer sheath assembly. The adjusting assembly may include at least one pull wire positioned within one of the inner sheath and the outer sheath. Furthermore, the inner sheath assembly is movable with respect to the outer sheath assembly.

Abstract: A surgical instrument assembly has an endoscope with an instrument channel and a sheathed elongate tubular member inserted into the instrument channel. The sheath is provided with a distal end portion having at least one resiliently biased, curved portion tending to direct the tip of the distal end portion in a direction angularly offset from the axis of the body insertion tube at its distal end. The elongate tubular member is itself longitudinally slidably positioned within the sheath. The instrument channel exerts forces sufficient to straighten the curved portions of the sheath when the curved portions are positioned within the body insertion tube, proximal of the tube's distal end. An elongate flexible endoscopic instrument is mounted into the tubular member so that an operative tip is located at a distal end of the tubular member.

Abstract: A surgical instrument assembly has an endoscope with an instrument channel and a sheathed elongate tubular member inserted into the instrument channel. The tubular member is provided with a distal end portion having at least one resiliently biased, curved portion tending to direct the tip of the distal end portion in a direction angularly offset from the axis of the body insertion tube at its distal end. The elongate tubular member is itself longitudinally slidably positioned within a relatively stiff, straight sheath having mechanical properties sufficient to straighten the curved portion of the tubular member when the curved portion is positioned within the sheath, proximal of the sheath's distal end. An elongate flexible endoscopic instrument is mounted into the tubular member so that an operative tip is located at a distal end of the tubular member.

Abstract: A system for remotely controlling a desired door locking or other function in a vehicle or other protected environment has a transmitter and receiver for communicating a message including a sequence number, the code of a selected function to be performed and an authenticator. An algorithm in the transmitter and in the receiver has a cryptographic key and a seed code. Each algorithm generates the authenticator as a function of both the seed code and the function code; if the authenticators are equal, the message is valid. Upon each transmission the seed code is updated and the sequence number is incremented. The receiver updates its seed code according to the transmitted sequence number to keep the algorithm in synchronism. Upon manufacture the transmitter sends the initial seed code and key to the receiver to program the receiver. This data is sent without delay when the battery is first installed but later a time delay is imposed to prevent sending inadvertent program messages.

Abstract: An improved self-sealing gasket provides hemostasis while reducing the force required to move a catheter or guidewire positioned within the gasket. Slits formed on one surface of the gasket intersect with a central aperture formed on the opposite face of the gasket. An annular ring formed on the gasket assists in retaining the gasket within a catheter introducer. An annular shelf may be provided distally of the gasket to prevent dislodgement of the gasket if an instrument is inserted into the introducer off axially.

Abstract: An improved self-lubricating catheter and guidewire introducer is provided with a reservoir containing lubrication fluid located proximally of a sealing gasket in a modified end cap. An improved self-sealing gasket provides hemostasis while reducing the force required to move a catheter or guidewire positioned within the gasket.

Abstract: An improved self-sealing gasket provides hemostasis while reducing the force required to move a catheter or guidewire positioned within the gasket. Slits formed on one surface of the gasket intersect with a central aperture formed on the opposite face of the gasket. An annular ring formed on the gasket assists in retaining the gasket within a catheter introducer. An annular shelf may be provided distally of the gasket to prevent dislodgement of the gasket if an instrument is inserted into the introducer off axially.

Abstract: The polarization dependence of optical wavelength filters is eliminated by using waveguide directional couplers. Material birefringence is used to compensate for the waveguide (electromagnetic) birefringence which is the original cause of the polarization dependence. Material birefringence is introduced in a controllable fashion by replacing bulk waveguide layers by finely layered composites, such as multiple quantum wells using III-V semiconductor materials. The filter has use in wavelength-division-multiplexed fiber optic communication systems. This filter has broad application for wavelength-tunable receivers in fiber optic communication links, which may be used for telecommunications, optical computer interconnect links, or fiber optic sensor systems. Since multiple-wavelength systems are increasingly being used for all of these applications, the filter is useable whenever a rapidly tunable, wavelength-filtering receiver is required.

Abstract: A circuit which allows the operation of a VOR receiver in the presence of unwanted interference signals without sacrificing a fast response to omnirange bearing selector changes. A switching-type synchronous filter is used to filter the 30 Hz AM channel signal in the receiver. The narrow bandwidth of this synchronous filter rejects unwanted interference signals without introducing phase shift into the desired signal. The switching signal for the synchronous filter is generated by the FM channel in such a manner that the switching filter center frequency follows the input frequency. The use of a synchronous filter allows rejection of interfering AM signals that lie outside a narrow pass band, while allowing the receiver to follow variations in frequency of the transmitted signal.

Abstract: A ranging timer allows decoded data pulses to toggle a flip flop, thereby initiating a transmission cycle. In a specific embodiment, the data pulses condition a second flip flop to energize the DME transceiver. During the next negative excursion of a 96 microsecond reference clock, the second flip flop is toggled, and during the next period of the reference clock, the decoder is disabled, the transmitter-modulator is energized, the ranging timer is enabled, and the first flip flop is reset. Since the time between the decoded data pulses is variable, jitter is built into the commencement of each transmission cycle.

Abstract: In a DME system, the least significant decade of the present aircraft to ground station distance is maintained encoded in a memory, and an up-down counter maintains a variable count. The complement of the present distance is compared with the present count, and when a difference is detected, a logical pulse increments the counter and also indicates passage of the aircraft through another distance interval. The sense of the difference between the present distance and the count also is monitored, responsive to which the direction of the count is controlled.

Abstract: A voltage controlled oscillator provides a pulse signal which, when frequency scaled, is representative of aircraft velocity. Pulses representative of passage of the aircraft over distance intervals are coupled to one input of a comparator-integrator, and the VCO output pulses are further divided and coupled to the other input terminal of the comparator-integrator. The integration voltage controls the VCO. The VCO signal is frequency scaled and fed to a counter, the output count of which is strobed periodically and decoded to yield velocity.