Description of Invention:
Available for licensing and commercial development is a multifocal apparatus for delivering an agent or for gathering information about a biological tissue, such as optical spectroscopy for tissue characterization (nuclear chromatic density). The apparatus includes a needle or catheter having a lumen extending longitudinally at least partially through it and a deployment port within the distal portion of the catheter. A plurality of extendable-retractable needles are housed within the catheter lumen, when deployed, extend through the deployment port. The needles may be solid or hollow and may deliver an agent to the tissue, include a mechanism for gathering information about the tissue, or both. Optical spectroscopy in a needle-based system provides in vivo tissue characterization without removal of tissue for microscopic analysis, which may be helpful during surgery or image guided therapies to localize cancerous tissue.
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the apparatus in use. The distal end of the apparatus is shown within a neoplasm and the needles are in a deployed state.
Figure 2 is an enlarged, longitudinal section through the distal end of an embodiment of the apparatus, showing several extendable-retractable needles in a non-deployed, or retracted, state.
Inventors:
Bradford Wood (CC) Alexander Gorbach (CC) Ziv Neeman (CC) Julia Hvisda (CC) et al.
Patent Status:
DHHS Reference No. E-248-2001/0 Licensing Status: This technology is no longer available for licensing.
Portfolios: Devices/Instrumentation
Devices/Instrumentation-Diagnostics-Physical Medicine Devices/Instrumentation-Diagnostics-Instruments Devices/Instrumentation-Diagnostics-Devices Devices/Instrumentation-Diagnostics
For Additional Information Please Contact: Michael Shmilovich J.D.
NIH Office of Technology Transfer
6011 Executive Blvd, Suite 325
Rockville, MD 20852-3804
Phone: (301) 435-5019
Email: shmilovm@mail.nih.gov
Fax: (301) 402-0220
