Patent ID: 7578787

Claim:
A catheter device, comprising: a non-segmented catheter for inserting into a hollow organ; a plurality of internal, discrete and pressure activated flexural elements arranged parallel to and circumferentially around a longitudinal axis of the catheter in a ring like manner and distributed within the catheter and along a catheter length at a plurality of axial locations; a control device for activating the flexural elements with regard to obtain a desired shape of the flexural elements; and a plurality of bending sensors arranged parallel to and circumferentially around the longitudinal axis of the catheter in a ring like manner and arranged at a plurality of longitudinal locations along the catheter length, the bending sensors adapted to communicate with the control device, wherein the flexural elements are adapted to be selectively activated for obtaining the desired shape and to bend the catheter off-axis of the longitudinal axis and form a smooth radius of the catheter using the control device, the control device adapted to: determine a current geometrical shape of the catheter using bending signals supplied by the bending sensors; and determine a required change of shape of the flexural elements for causing a desired movement of the catheter so that the catheter is at least partially movable inside the hollow organ by selectively applying a force to an inner organ wall of the hollow organ using flexural elements activated according to the required change of shape.