Patent ID: 8126534

Claim:
A medical system for inserting a catheter into a blood vessel of a patient, comprising: a device for creating a transparent image of the position of the blood vessel in the patient; a catheter having a front portion, an inside portion and an outside portion; a reversible inflatable balloon arranged at the front portion of the catheter; a stent arranged to partially surround the balloon for implanting in the blood vessel; an OCT (optical coherence tomography) imaging sensor arranged at the front portion of the catheter to generate image signals in a radial direction and an IVUS (intravascular ultrasound) imaging sensor arranged at a tip of the catheter to generate image signals in a longitudinal direction in advance of a path of travel of the catheter; a catheter position locating system having position and location sensors that can determine the position and location of the front portion of the catheter in space, said position and location sensors including transmission coils which are respectively arranged in a solid angle that is orthogonal with respect to each other, said position and location sensors being arranged in the area of the stent and the balloon of the catheter; and a computer and control unit for processing and display of the image sensor signals; wherein the position sensors and the IVUS sensors and the OCT sensors are arranged so that they can be moved in the longitudinal direction of the catheter.