US Patent Issued to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS on Feb. 17 for "Medical system with multiple operating modes for steering a medical instrument through linked body passages" (American, Italian Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,551,092, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

"Medical system with multiple operating modes for steering a medical instrument through linked body passages" was invented by Vincent Duindam (San Francisco) and Giuseppe Maria Prisco (Calci Pisa, Italy).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A controller operates in different operating modes to control movement of a distal tip of a medical instrument when inserting and retracting the medical instrument through linked body passages. When inserting the medical instrument, the controller normally operates in an automatic navigation mode unless manual...