The present disclosure deals with ultrasonically selectively dissolving solid and semi-solid unwanted materials, such as vitreous gels, membranes, cataracts and similar materials in ophthalmic operation applications, for example, by radiating from a physically small source, high-frequency, preferably pulsed, acoustic waves, while positioning the material to be selectively locally dissolved by such waves at a selected region sometimes in contact with or near-contact or within a short distance from the source of the order of a millimeter or so, at which the propagated acoustic wave energy can effect such phenomena as, for example, localized cytolysis of the material at the selected region thereof substantially normal to the wavefront of the radiated acoustic wave region, and without substantial damage to the portions of the material external to said selected region, and with adjustment to obviate any substantial temperature rise at the material.
The invention relates to the field of hygienic care of the human skin and for performing certain dermatological procedures as removing blackheads and opening pimples with an ultrasonic applicator. The applicator or tool, which is used in conjunction with a selected fluid, has a contoured configuration or surface that is placed in energy transmission relationship to the skin and ultrasonically vibrated for performing the particular procedure desired.
An apparatus and method for the application of ultrasound to a location within the body is provided. The apparatus can advantageously operate at a pulse duration below about 100 milliseconds and in the range 0.1 milliseconds to 100 milliseconds and a pulse repetition period below about 1 second and in the range of 1 millisecond to 1 second. Duty ratios over 5 and preferably over 8 are also advantageous. Therapeutic applications of ultrasound such as for assisting in the treatment of medical conditions such as cancer and/or other ailments are also provided.
Fat cells in a living patient are noninvasively destroyed without separating the skin from the body by applying to the fat layer high intensity focused ultrasound simultaneously in a multiplicity of discrete focal zones produced by a single transducer array. A novel phasing apparatus for producing a widely variable set of focal zone patterns for lipolytic therapy and other purposes is disclosed.
A medicinal injection instrument for injecting a medicinal medium into a living body includes a tubular arrangement for conducting a medicinal medium to an injection site, the tubular arrangement having a distal end. An ultrasonic oscillator device has an ultrasonic oscillator element juxtaposed to the distal end such that when the instrument is inserted into a living body with the distal end disposed juxtaposed to the injection site, the ultrasonic oscillator element is also disposed juxtaposed to the injection site to thereby enhance diffusion and penetration of the medicinal medium into the body tissue.
External grooving on a catheter traps microorganisms nurtured by mucus in a patient's body. The grooving also traps contaminating debris, originating outside the body, that migrates into the body along the catheter exterior. Energy, which may be a propagating vibration or electrical energy or a radioactive material, is carried to the groove (or grooves), from a source outside the body. This function is performed by a fiber embedded or held in the catheter, or by a liquid column (e.g., in an annular lumen) in the catheter, or in other ways. The energy disables microorganisms and disintegrates debris trapped at the groove. The groove depth, interface geometry, and in the case of vibrational energy the vibration frequency too, are selected to minimize projection of energy into the patient's tissues. Suction may be applied as through an auxiliary lumen (or, in some drain catheters, intermittently through the primary drain lumen itself), to remove resulting detritus at the grooving. Circumferential grooves may be used to impede migration longitudinally, longitudinal grooves to deter formation of continuous circumferential sheets of contaminants, or spiral grooves to lengthen the migration path along the catheter--or combinations of these forms.
