Patent ID: 7493154

Claim:
A method of identifying an obstruction in and a course of a body vessel of a patient that is hidden from direct view in a surgical field by body tissue overlying a vessel wall of the body vessel surrounding a vessel lumen of the body vessel comprising: surgically exposing through an incision at least a portion of body tissue overlying the vessel wall; introducing a vessel lumen probe having a lumen probe element at or near a vessel lumen probe distal end into the vessel lumen; introducing a surface probe element sensor of a vessel surface probe into the patient through the incision; and applying the surface probe element sensor of the vessel surface probe over the body tissue overlying the vessel wall, the surface probe element sensor adapted to provide a proximity indicating signal indicating the degree of proximity of the surface probe element sensor to the lumen probe element; determining the course of the body vessel relative to the body tissue overlying the vessel wall as a function of the relative strength of the signal when the surface probe element sensor is moved over the body tissue overlying the vessel wall relative to the lumen probe element positioned within the vessel lumen; and determining an obstruction within the body vessel as a function of the relative strength of the signal when the lumen probe element is moved within the vessel lumen.