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US 7,137,981 B2Granted
Endoscopic ablation system with a distally mounted image sensor
AssigneeEthicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.
InventorGary L. Long
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tissue ablation system is described. The tissue ablation system can include a plurality of electrodes, a viewing window between adjacent electrodes, illuminating elements, and an image sensor. The image sensor can be a CMOS device.
Claims5
An ablation device comprising:
- an elongate, relatively flexible member;
- a relatively rigid support member disposed at a distal end of the elongate, relatively flexible member;
- a relatively flexible tapered end piece extending distally of the relatively rigid support member;
- at least two electrodes disposed in spaced apart relationship on an outside surface of the relatively rigid support member, and at least a portion of the relatively rigid support member between the at least two electrodes being transparent to provide a viewing window between the at least two electrodes;
- an image sensor supported on the device and positioned to image tissue through the viewing window;
- and
- at least one illuminator supported on the device and positioned to illuminate tissue through the viewing window.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.