ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,702,573, issued on Aug. 11, was assigned to MicronVision Corp. (Bellevue, Wash.).
"Placing and removing surgical stents" was invented by Xiaolong Ouyang (Bellevue, Wash.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems and methods are configured for precise placement of surgical stents. A customized endoscopic system has a stent positioned between an inner cannula and the outer sleeve. The inner cannula has an integrated camera and illumination on its distal tip. The operator can make precise stent placements while viewing live video on an integrated display mounted on the hand piece. The stent can be removed using a specialized hook device. The s...