Infraredx, Inc.

Angiolight, Inc.

The City University of New York

Research Foundation of Cuny

Cornova, Inc.

Jing Tang

Andres Zuluaga

S Eric Ryan

Guillermo J Tearney

Brett Eugene Bouma

Simon M Furnish

Barbara Marshik-Geurts

Robert R Alfano

Ping Pei Ho

Jonathan M Evans

Peng Pei Ho

Matthew Flinders

Mark A Griffin

Systems, methods, and apparatus for providing a fluid and reduced-toxicity optical media with optical analysis and therapeutic energy delivery. An aspect of the invention provides an aqueous solution of increased-salinity of between about 1% and 35%. An increasing salinity in accordance with the invention provides improved transmissive efficiency at many wavelengths and less toxicity than many existing systems and methods. A catheter having integrated fibers for probing or treating internal lumens or other tissues can include a liquid-inflatable balloon or flushing mechanism using the solution for displacing blood or other obstructions in an optical path between the fiber and targeted tissue. Methods including spectroscopy can be employed with the solution for diagnosing medical conditions associated with diseased vessels or other tissues while reducing the risk of permanent damage resulting from the diagnosis. Additional applications include the deliver of therapeutic radiation externally and internally to tissues through h the solution media.

Fluid media for bio-sensitive applications

Systems and methods are provided for probing an occluded body lumen, including a flexible conduit insertable into the body lumen, at least one delivery waveguide and at least one collection waveguide integrated with the flexible conduit and arranged to deliver and collect radiation about a distal end of said flexible conduit, at least one radiation source connected to a transmission input of the at least one delivery waveguide, at least one optical detector connected to a transmission output of at least one collection waveguide, a spectrometer connected with the at least one optical detector, and constructed and arranged to scan radiation and perform spectroscopy, and a controller programmed to process data from said spectrometer and provide information for directing said flexible conduit through obstacles within the occluded body lumen.

Systems and methods for analysis and treatment of an occluded body lumen

The invention relates to methods and devices for characterizing tissue in vivo, e.g., in walls of blood vessels, to determine whether the tissue is healthy or diseased, and include methods of displaying results with or without thresholds.

Near-infrared spectroscopic analysis of blood vessel walls

The invention relates to methods and devices for characterizing tissue in vivo, e.g., in walls of blood vessels, to determine whether the tissue is healthy or diseased.

Laser tissue welding can be achieved using tunable Crlasers, semiconductor lasers and fiber lasers, where the weld strength follows the absorption spectrum of water. The use of gelatin and esterified gelatin as solders in conjunction with laser inducted tissue welding impart much stronger tensile and torque strengths than albumin solders. Selected NIR wavelength from the above lasers can improve welding and avoid thermal injury to tissue when used alone or with gelatin and esterified gelatin solders. These discoveries can be used to enhance laser tissue welding of tissues such as skin, mucous, bone, blood vessel, nerve, brain, liver, pancreas, spleen, kidney, lung, bronchus, respiratory track, urinary tract, gastrointestinal tract, or gynecologic tract and as a sealant for pulmonary air leaks and fistulas such as intestinal, rectal and urinary fistulas.

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An apparatus includes a feedback loop for controlling an extent of a gap between a wall of a balloon mounted on a catheter and a wall of a lumen into which the catheter is inserted. The apparatus includes a radiation detector mounted within the balloon for generating a feedback signal having information indicative of whether the extent of the gap is greater than or less than a desired value. The feedback loop receives the feedback signal and controls a size of the balloon to cause the extent of the gap to approach the desired value.

Balloon catheter

First and second optical-redirectors mounted on a catheter couple radiation to a target along separate first and second paths. Either the first or second optical-redirectors, or both, can include a steering mechanism for selecting the first and/or second path.

Multi-path optical catheter

A catheter based optical system for generating data as to the condition of a tissue sample of a mammalian vessel. The system includes an elongated catheter shaft having a tissue engaging distal end and a coupled proximal end and an elongated optical delivery fiber arrangement disposed through a lumen of said catheter, said optical delivery fiber arrangement having a distal end and a proximal end. The distal end of the delivery fiber arrangement has a re-director light emitter thereon for directing light against mammalian tissues. An elongated optical collection fiber arrangement is disposed through a lumen of the catheter, the optical collection fiber arrangement having a distal end and a proximal most end. The distal end of the collection fiber arrangement has a re-director light receiver thereon for receiving light reflected from the mammalian tissue by the light emitter. The light emitter and the light receiver are longitudinally spaced apart from one another in the distal end of the catheter. The catheter apparatus includes a light source in communication with the delivery fiber and a signal detector in communication with the receiving fiber for receiving and presenting data collected.

Apparatus and method for the optical imaging of tissue samples

A method for monitoring a biological tissue includes illuminating the tissue, including a fluorophore, with a wavelength of light, the wavelength selected for exciting the fluorophore, determining a fluorescent emission of the fluorophore, the emission indicating the presence of the fluorophore, and correlating an emission of the fluorophore to an extent and degree of damage to the tissue. Damage to the tissue includes a breakdown of the fluorophore, resulting in a reduced level of emission. The fluorophore can include one of collagen and elastin. The fluorophore can include tryptophan, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, flavin and porphyrin. Correlating the emission of the fluorophore to the extent and degree of damage further includes processing a correlation of the emission over time, controlling the power of a laser welder based on the processed correlation, and preventing overheating of the tissue by the laser welder.

System and method of fluorescence spectroscopic imaging for characterization and monitoring of tissue damage

The invention provides methods and apparatus to reference or normalize optical measurements, by removing or accounting for background factors and artifacts, such as motion artifacts, that arise during use of optical catheters.

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Arlington, MA, United States of America

Jing Tang