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. 03, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 09, 2000
John C. Ford, Marietta, GA (US);
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
Brachytherapy is carried out with an injection device with a needle to inject a radioactive seed into a patient's body. The injection device has not only a thruster for thrusting the needle straight to a selected target position inside the patient's body, but also a load cell which measures the resistance force encountering the needle and a deflection detector which detects a bent condition of the needle, as well as a drill device and a tamper for causing the needle to undergo rotary and linear reciprocating motions. The mode of thrusting the needle and the motions by the drill device and the tamper are modified according to the force detected by the load cell and any output signal from the deflection detector such that it can be ensured that the needle will dependably reach the target position without undergoing deflection or bowing.