The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 08, 2021
Filed:
Jun. 17, 2019
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Amir Belson, Los Altos, CA (US);
Robert Matthew Ohline, Redwood City, CA (US);
INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for accessing and treating regions of the body are disclosed herein. Using an endoscopic device having an automatically controllable proximal portion and a selectively steerable distal portion, the device generally may be advanced into the body through an opening. The distal portion is selectively steered to assume a selected curve along a desired path within the body which avoids contact with tissue while the proximal portion is automatically controlled to assume the selected curve of the distal portion. The endoscopic device can then be used for accessing various regions of the body which are typically difficult to access and treat through conventional surgical techniques because the device is unconstrained by 'straight-line' requirements. Various applications can include accessing regions of the brain, thoracic cavity, including regions within the heart, peritoneal cavity, etc., which are difficult to reach using conventional surgical procedures.