Patent ID: 7775968

Claim:
A method of accessing a subject's lung or surrounding tissue of said subject's lung, the method comprising: (a) advancing a distal end of an imaging device into the subject's lung so that a proximal end of the imaging device is located outside said subject's lung; (b) positioning a guide element relative to the imaging device so that the guide element extends continuously from a first end of the guide element disposed adjacent the proximal end of the imaging device, distally through a lumen of the imaging device toward a distal end of the imaging device and then returning proximally from the distal end of the imaging device outside the imaging device to a second end of the guide element; (c) wherein the first and second ends of the guide element are disposed outside the lung after the imaging device is advanced so that the guide element between the second end and the distal end of the advanced imaging device is accessible to direct an instrument distally into the subject's lung; and (d) advancing the instrument over the guide element by receiving the second end of the guide element in a lumen of the instrument and advancing the instrument distally over the guide element from the second end to the distal end of the imaging device.