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Apparatus is provided for diagnosing or treating an organ or vessel, wherein a deformable body having at least two optical fiber sensors disposed in a distal extremity thereof is coupled to processing logic programmed to compute a multi-dimensional force vector responsive to detected changes in the

Apparatus is provided for diagnosing or treating an organ or vessel, wherein a deformable body having at least two optical fiber sensors disposed in a distal extremity thereof is coupled to processing logic programmed to compute a multi-dimensional force vector responsive to detected changes in the optical characteristics of the optical fiber sensors arising from deflection of the distal extremity resulting from contact with the tissue of the wall of the organ or vessel. The force vector may be used to facilitate manipulation of the deformable body either directly or automatically using a robotic system.

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1. Apparatus for diagnosis or treatment of a vessel or an organ of a patient, the apparatus comprising: a deformable body defining a longitudinal axis and having a proximal end and a distal extremity, the deformable body being flexible in directions lateral to the longitudinal axis and adapted to be

1. Apparatus for diagnosis or treatment of a vessel or an organ of a patient, the apparatus comprising: a deformable body defining a longitudinal axis and having a proximal end and a distal extremity, the deformable body being flexible in directions lateral to the longitudinal axis and adapted to be introduced through the vasculature system of the patient with the distal extremity positionable proximate the vessel or the organ while a portion of the deformable body proximal the distal extremity is within the vasculature system, wherein the distal extremity includes a free end configured to deform in response to contact with the vessel or organ;at least two optical fiber sensors affixed within the distal extremity, each of the optical fiber sensors extending from the distal extremity to a proximal end of the deformable body; andprocessing logic operatively coupled to receive an output of the optical fiber sensors, the processing logic programmed to compute a dynamic multi-dimensional force vector corresponding to a contact force in response to contact between the distal extremity and a tissue wall of the organ or vessel, wherein the contact force results from multi-dimensional interaction of the distal extremity with the tissue wall in response to at least one of a movement of the tissue wall and a manipulating force applied at the proximal end of the deformable body, wherein the multi-dimensional force vector includes an axial force component along said longitudinal axis. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the two optical fiber sensors are affixed to one another. 3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a third optical fiber sensor, the third optical fiber sensor disposed within the deformable body so that the three optical fiber sensors are not co-planar. 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the processing logic is programmed to compute a three-dimensional force vector responsive to the output of the optical fiber sensors. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a distal part of an optical fiber of one of the optical fiber sensors extends distally beyond the other optical fiber sensor and further comprises an additional optical fiber sensor. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising another optical fiber sensor slidably disposed within a lumen of the deformable body to measure a temperature of the deformable body. 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distal extremity further comprises at least one electrode to measure an electric potential of the tissue of the organ or vessel. 8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising a processor programmed to measure the electrical potential when the contact force falls within a determined range. 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distal extremity further comprises at least one electrode for ablating tissue by depositing radiofrequency energy. 10. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a processor programmed to permit actuation of the electrode to ablate tissue only when the contact force falls within a determined range. 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distal extremity further comprises an irrigation channel. 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distal extremity further comprises a three-dimensional positioning sensor. 13. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a Fiber Bragg Grating Demodulator coupled to the optical fiber sensors to generate the output. 14. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising means for articulating the distal extremity, wherein articulation of the distal extremity is determined responsive to the output. 15. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising a robotic control system that manipulates the deformable body responsive to the output. 16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the deformable body has a corresponding force-strain conversion matrix. 17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the force-strain conversion matrix is stored in a memory chip, bar code or RFID tag provided with the deformable body. 18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the force-strain conversion matrix is provided to the processing logic prior to use of the deformable body. 19. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the optical fiber sensors are selected from the group consisting of: Fiber Bragg Grating optical fiber strain sensors, Long Period Grating optical fiber strain sensors, Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer optical fiber strain sensors, Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer optical fiber strain sensors, Michelson interferometer optical fiber strain sensors, and Brillouin scattering optical fiber strain sensors. 20. Apparatus for diagnosis or treatment of a vessel or an organ of a patient, the apparatus comprising: a flexible elongated body defining a longitudinal axis and having proximal and distal ends and a distal extremity, the flexible body being flexible in directions lateral to the longitudinal axis and adapted to be introduced through the vasculature system of the patient with the distal extremity positionable proximate the vessel or the organ while a portion of the flexible body proximal the distal extremity is within the vasculature system, the distal extremity comprising a deformable material and having a free end configured to deform in response to contact with the vessel or organ;three optical fibers extending through the flexible elongated body and affixed within the distal extremity so that the optical fibers are not co-planar;an optical strain sensor disposed within the distal extremity and coupled to at least one of the three optical fibers; anda storage device associated with the flexible elongated body, the storage device containing a force-strain conversion matrix that enables dynamic computation of a three-dimensional force vector corresponding to a contact force in response to contact between the distal extremity and a tissue wall of the organ or vessel, wherein the contact force results from a multi-dimensional interaction of the distal extremity with the tissue wall in response to at least one of a movement of the tissue wall and a manipulating force applied at the proximal end of the deformable body, wherein the three-dimensional force vector includes an axial force component along said longitudinal axis. 21. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising a console having a laser diode, a photodetector and processing logic, wherein the processing logic is programmed to receive an output from the optical strain sensor and to compute the three-dimensional force vector using the force-strain conversion matrix. 22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the three optical fibers are affixed to one another to form a sub-assembly. 23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein a distal part of one of the optical fibers extends distally beyond the other optical fibers and further comprises an additional optical fiber sensor for use in determining temperature. 24. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a fourth optical fiber having an optical fiber sensor slidably disposed within a lumen of the flexible elongated body to measure a temperature of the distal extremity. 25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the distal extremity further comprises an end effector to perform a diagnosis or treatment of the organ or vessel. 26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the end effector comprises at least one electrode for measuring an electric potential of the tissue of the organ or vessel. 27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the console is programmed to measure the electrical potential when the contact force falls within a determined range. 28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the end effector comprises at least one electrode for ablating tissue by depositing radiofrequency energy. 29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein the console is programmed to permit actuation of the electrode to ablate tissue only when the contact force falls within a determined range. 30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the distal extremity further comprises an irrigation channel. 31. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the distal extremity further comprises a three-dimensional positioning sensor. 32. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising means for articulating the distal extremity, the means for articulating responsive to an output of the processing logic. 33. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising a robotic control system that manipulates the flexible elongated body in response to the output. 34. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the storage device comprises a memory chip, bar code or RFID tag associated with the deformable body. 35. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the force-strain conversion matrix is input to the processing logic prior to use of the deformable body. 36. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the optical fiber strain sensor is selected from the group consisting of: a Fiber Bragg Grating optical fiber strain sensor, a Long Period Grating optical fiber strain sensor, an Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer optical fiber strain sensor, an Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer optical fiber strain sensor, a Michelson interferometer optical fiber strain sensor, and a Brillouin scattering optical fiber strain sensor. 37. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the three optical fibers define arms of a Michelson interferometer optical fiber strain sensor and an additional optical fiber extends through the flexible elongated body and distally beyond the other optical fibers and includes an additional optical fiber sensor to measure temperature.