US 12,102,298 B2
Lymphatic system tracking
John W. Komp, Dillon, CO (US); and Joe D. Sartor, Longmont, CO (US)
Assigned to Covidien LP, Mansfield, MA (US)
Filed by Covidien LP, Mansfield, MA (US)
Filed on Oct. 16, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/072,753.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/946,307, filed on Dec. 10, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0169330 A1, Jun. 10, 2021
Int. Cl. A61B 1/06 (2006.01); A61B 1/00 (2006.01); A61B 1/04 (2006.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61B 5/06 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 1/0638 (2013.01) [A61B 1/000094 (2022.02); A61B 1/0002 (2013.01); A61B 1/0005 (2013.01); A61B 1/046 (2022.02); A61B 5/0035 (2013.01); A61B 5/0086 (2013.01); A61B 5/062 (2013.01); A61B 5/418 (2013.01); A61B 1/06 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of imaging tissue comprising:
illuminating tissue with near infrared (NIR) light;
detecting fluorescence from the tissue;
converting detected fluorescence to NIR images of the tissue;
compiling the NIR images of the tissue into an NIR video;
identifying pixels in the NIR video changing fluorescence over a duration of the NIR video at a rate in excess of a threshold, wherein the changing fluorescence in excess of the threshold is indicative of a location of a luminal network within the tissue;
storing the NIR video and the identified pixels in a memory;
capturing live white light images of the tissue;
identifying pixels in the live white light images that correspond to the identified pixels in the NIR video;
generating composite images from the live white light images, wherein the identified pixels in the white light images that correspond to the identified pixels in the NIR video are highlighted; and
displaying the composite images in a user interface.