Patent ID: 8010181
Filing Date: 2011-08-30
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A navigation system for invasive medical procedures, comprising: an RF steerable medical instrument that is mounted on an end of arm tool, the medical instrument being adapted to be inserted into a human body along an axis of insertion; at least one radio frequency (RF) transmitter affixed to a distal end and on a side of the medical instrument, said RF transmitter capable of emitting energy sufficient to ablate abutting tissue; a plurality of RF receivers that are adapted to receive RF signals emitted from the RF transmitter; a computational device that is operatively coupled to the plurality of RF receivers, the computational device being adapted to cause a visual image of a desired portion of a human body to be shown on a display and to overlay on the visual image an indication of the location of the medical instrument within the human body based on analysis of the information received from the RF receivers; and a robotic controller that is operatively coupled to the computational device and the end of arm tool, the controller configured to steer the medical instrument to desired locations within a human body by selectively activating the RF transmitter to emit energy in an amount sufficient to control the degree of deflection of the medical instrument lateral to the axis of insertion.