Patent Document ID: 8423120
Application ID: 11199768
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of positioning an interventional instrument relative to lesion tissue in normal human or animal tissue, comprising: positioning a portion of the human or animal tissue in a biopsy device which includes an interventional instrument for biopsying the lesion tissue, wherein the tissue has some of the normal tissue and some of the lesion tissue, wherein the tissue is maintained in a fixed position with respect to the biopsy device, wherein the biopsy device comprises at least one fiducial marker which can be identified under at least a first imaging modality; imaging the tissue via the first imaging modality to produce a calibration image of the tissue, wherein the calibration image shows the position of the at least one fiducial marker; introducing a contrast agent into the tissue, wherein a difference between transport characteristics of the contrast agent in normal tissue and the transport characteristics of the contrast agent in the lesion tissue differentiates the lesion tissue from the normal tissue; calibrating the biopsy device with respect to the at least one fiducial marker using the calibration image; imaging the tissue via the first or another imaging modality to produce a diagnostic image of the tissue after the contrast agent has differentiated the lesion tissue from the normal tissue, such that the diagnostic image shows the lesion tissue; with a software programmed device, automatically calculating from the calibration and diagnostic images, a location of the lesion tissue with respect to the biopsy device; positioning the interventional instrument in the tissue such that the interventional instrument is in a desired position with respect to the lesion tissue based on the calculated location of the lesion tissue; while the contrast agent is still differentiating the lesion tissue from the normal tissue, imaging the tissue to produce an interventional image of the tissue and the interventional instrument positioned in the tissue in which the lesion tissue is still differentiated from the normal tissue by the contrast agent, wherein the interventional image shows a relative position of the interventional instrument and the contrast agent differentiated lesion tissue; adjusting the position of the interventional instrument, if needed, based on the relative position of the interventional instrument and the lesion tissue.