METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING A MEDICAL INSTRUMENT

摘要

Presented are methods and apparatus for delivering a surgical instrument to a treatment site within the body of a subject, enabling accurate placement of surgical tools in areas not directly visible to a surgeon during a surgical procedure, while reducing or eliminating need for real-time imaging modalities to guide placement of those surgical tools. A treatment tool is guided to a treatment site by placing a guiding element at a reference site within a body of a subject, the reference site having a known spatial relationship to the treatment site, and utilizing a positioning tool to guide a treatment tool to a locus so positioned with respect to that guiding element that the spatial relationship between that guiding element and that locus is substantially similar to the spatial relationship known to exist between the reference site and the treatment site, thereby positioning the treatment tool substantially at the treatment site. Methods and apparatus for focusing energy at a treatment site, methods and apparatus for treatment of Benign Prostate Hyperplasia, and methods and apparatus for performing a saturation biopsy of an organ are also presented.