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Abstract

A method of making a steerable instrument for endoscopic and/or invasive type of applications, such as in surgery is provided. The instrument has an elongated tubular body having at least one actuation zone at a proximal side of the steerable instrument and at least one bendable zone at a distal side of the steerable instrument, said at least one actuation zone arranged to control bending of said at least one bendable zone by means of a plurality of longitudinal elements. The method comprises:

making slits in a first intermediate cylindrical element such as to define a first set of one or more adjacent longitudinal elements which may be used as pushing/pulling wires in the assembled state of the steerable instrument,cutting open spaces in a second intermediate cylindrical element such as to render a sliding island in each open space, which are defined by rigid, cylindrical portions and connection elements, each open space being associated with one longitudinal element, such that when the cutting process is finished, each sliding island is still attached to at least one of an adjacent connection element and rigid, cylindrical portion by means of one or more break islands,aligning every sliding island with one longitudinal element and connecting or attaching every sliding island to one longitudinal element of the first set of longitudinal elements,moving the longitudinal elements and respective sliding islands together such as to cause the one or more break islands to break off during moving the longitudinal elements relative to the second intermediate cylindrical element.

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First Claim