Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation

Tatsunori Fujii

Randal James Kadykowski

Safi Siddiqui

Takeshi Tsubouchi

Joseph Geric

A vessel harvesting system removes a target vessel from a patient for use as a bypass. An elongated harvesting instrument inserts into a body along a path of a target vessel which includes at least one side branch. The harvesting instrument includes a cutter for applying thermal energy to sever and cauterize the side branch. An endoscopic camera captures visible-light images from a distal tip of the instrument within a dissected tunnel around the target vessel. A thermal camera captures thermograms coinciding with the visible-light images to characterize a temperature present at respective surfaces in the tunnel. An image processor (e.g., an electronic controller) renders a video stream including the visible-light images and an overlay depicting the temperatures present on at least some of the respective surfaces when applying the thermal energy. A display presenting the video stream and overlay to a user can be an augmented-reality display.

Endoscopic vessel harvesting with thermal management and augmented reality display

A vessel harvesting apparatus for removing a blood vessel from a patient includes collection and conditioning (i.e., treatment) of expelled insufflation gas prior to releasing the gas into the air of the operating room. An endoscopic instrument has a distal end with a vessel harvesting tip and has a proximal end with a handle. An insufflation channel is configured to convey an insufflation gas subcutaneously into a dissected space within the patient. A removal channel is configured to evacuate fluidic contents from the dissected space, wherein the fluidic contents include insufflation gas and biological impurities. A processor/separator is coupled to the removal channel to process the fluidic contents to retain at least some of the biological impurities and to exhaust the insufflation gas.

Endoscopic vessel harvesting devices with conditioning of insufflation gas

Dissector cone for endoscope

An endoscopic vessel harvester cuts and cauterizes side branches from a target vessel using a cutter member that extends at a distal end of an insertion member. The cutter member has a plate defining a slit for receiving a side branch. A cutting electrode is disposed at a base of the slit and a pair of grounding electrodes are each mounted to an outer surface of the plate on opposite sides of the slit. Each grounding electrode has a raised longitudinal ridge adjoining a portion of the slit including the base of the slit and has a spot cautery wing extending laterally away from the slit with a surface configured to engage a surface of the tunnel. The longitudinal ridges each have an upright jamb surface configured to contact the side branch remotely from the cutting electrode so that it is unnecessary to make a grounding contact on the tunnel.

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Bear, DE, United States of America

Tatsunori Fujii