Inventors:
Richard James Black - Menlo Park CA, US
Behzad Moslehi - Los Altos CA, US
Mark R. Cutkosky - Palo Alto CA, US
Santhi Elayaperumal - Stanford CA, US
Bruce Daniel - Stanford CA, US
Alan Yeung - Stanford CA, US
Vahid Sotoudeh - Los Altos CA, US
Assignee:
Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA
International Classification:
A61M 25/00
US Classification:
600433, 600434, 600435, 604 9505
Abstract:
A biopsy needle has a central axis and includes one or more sensing regions, each sensing region formed by a plurality of sensing optical fibers located over a particular extent of said central axis and inside the outer shell of the needle. The sensing optical fibers are coupled to a wavelength interrogator. A steerable catheter has a central axis and outer shell, the outer shell coupled to a plurality of optical fibers in sensing regions and actuation regions, the sensing regions formed over particular extents of the central axis by bonding gratings to the inner surface of the outer shell, and the actuation regions formed by coupling optical energy into shape memory alloys bonded to the outer shell.