US Patent Issued to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS on Aug. 4 for "Devices, systems, and methods using a steerable stylet and flexible needle" (Italian Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,697,104, issued on Aug. 4, was assigned to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

"Devices, systems, and methods using a steerable stylet and flexible needle" was invented by Giuseppe Maria Prisco (Calci Pisa, Italy) and Massimiliano Simi (Leghorn, Italy).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A stylet comprises a flexible body and a steerable portion fixedly coupled to the flexible body. The steerable portion includes a bend-resistive tip and a bendable section. The bendable section includes a plurality of articulable segments, and each articulable segment of the plurality of articulable segments is linked by a corresponding actu...