Patent ID: 8801606

Claim:
A method of monitoring a condition within a patient's body, the method comprising: locating a scanned beam imaging unit at an imaging location by connecting structure between the scanned beam imaging unit and an anatomical structure for a period of time to observe and characterize a portion of the patient's anatomy over at least a portion of the period of time, the connecting structure selected from the group consisting of a suture loop, an expandable stent, a barbed anchor, or a clamp, the scanned beam imaging unit being located at the imaging location using a locating instrument; removing the locating instrument from the patient's body with the scanned beam imaging unit remaining at the imaging location; providing a control unit including a detector, a memory, and a light source for creating a beam of light, the control unit driving the scanned beam imaging unit from outside of the patient's body via a line connecting the control unit to the scanned beam imaging unit; and with the scanned beam imaging unit at the imaging location: scanning the beam of light across the portion of the anatomy; and receiving light from the portion of the anatomy; and with the control unit outside of the patient's body: detecting the received light using the detector; producing imaging data from the detected received light; and saving the imaging data in the memory; then, after saving the imaging data in the memory, connecting the control unit to an image processor for processing the imaging data, the image processor producing a video image of the portion of the anatomy from the imaging data.