Patent ID: 8160678

Claim:
A method for repairing or modifying an area of a patient's anatomy comprising the steps of: (a) directing at least a portion of a scanning beam assembly to an area of a patient's anatomy, the scanning beam assembly comprising: a radiation source capable of emitting radiation; an optical fiber for directing the radiation from the radiation source toward a distal end of the scanning beam assembly in the form of a beam; a reflector that receives the beam of radiation from the optical fiber to direct the radiation onto the anatomy, wherein the reflector oscillates in at least two directions to create a scan of the anatomy with the radiation, the scan including sinusoidal angular deflections of the reflector yielding a bi-resonant or bi-sinusoidal scan path; a detector to detect radiation returned from the anatomy; and a controller to convert the detected radiation into a displayable image of the anatomy that was scanned by the radiation directed thereto by the reflector; wherein the controller comprises an interface management component that is electrically coupled to a user interface, the reflector, and the radiation source, wherein the interface management component upon receipt of specified treatment parameters transmits signals to a source control to drive the radiation source to provide a requisite emitting radiation output during the bi-resonant or bi-sinusoidal scan path; (b) applying a radiation-responsive agent to a portion of the anatomy; (c) exposing the radiation-responsive agent to radiation directed onto the agent by the reflector to cause the agent to therapeutically interact with the site; (d) imaging the anatomy using the scanning beam assembly; (e) displaying an image of the anatomy including the agent; (f) using the displayed image of the anatomy to plan the placement of the radiation-responsive agent; and (g) selecting a treatment path where the reflector will direct therapeutic radiation for exposing the radiation-responsive agent.