Ultrasonic instrumentation for the removal of unwanted tissue material from an animal, such as a human, and more particularly, adapted for the removal of cataracts, in surgical operations. The ultrasonic instrumentation includes a hand-held instrument adapted to have a vibrating tool to reduce the volume of the cataract and thereafter, through the simultaneous introduction of a fluid and creating a flow, the cataract mass exits through the incision around the vibrating tool until all of the unwa...

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 fro...

A machine for performing surgery and treatment utilizing ultrasonic energy wherein so as to obtain precise control of the operating frequency and eliminate unnecessary heating and loss of power the hand tool as well as the generator and power supply are designed after establishing the designed criteria of the particular medical tool required thus allowing coupling of energy into the tool in a very efficient manner. Means are also provided for assuring that dangerous transverse modes of the instr...

A method and apparatus for sterilizing organic or inorganic matter through simultaneous exposure to ultraviolet light energy and ultrasonic wave energy in a non-aqueous environment such as air. The method is suitable for use in a chamber or in a mass production assembly line setting. Purification of air is similarly accomplished using simultaneous exposure to ultraviolet light and ultrasonic energy waves.

A non-invasive system and process for projecting sensory data onto the human neural cortex is provided. The system includes a primary transducer array and a secondary transducer array. The primary transducer array acts as a coherent signal source, and the secondary transducer array acts as a controllable diffraction pattern that focuses energy onto the neural cortex in a desired pattern. In addition, the pattern of energy is constructed such that each portion projected into the neural cortex may...

A coupling structure in combination with a shockwave generator and either a bed or just an interface surface to the generator is made of a stiff and rigid coupling surface element being in effect interposed between the shockwave generator and a patient, the coupling surface element has no opening, but is permeable to shockwaves.

A lithotripter includes a therapeutic head with a source for the production and focusing of shockwaves into the body of a patient and is mounted such that a center axis of the head is forced to move and remain on the surface of a cone whose apex point coincides with the focus of the therapeutic head, external to the head, so as to obtain isocentric motion of the head vis-a-vis that focus, even if that focus is made to be positioned in the body of the patient and an ultrasonic transducer is isoce...

A vibrational method and apparatus for accelerating and increase in efficiency of passage of stones from the ureter comprises introducing into the ureter (U) of a catheter (10) with a vibrating head (12) which imparts radial oscillations to the walls of the ureter at a distance of 0 to 30 mm from the areas where the stone (S) is lodged. Catheter (10) is a flexible tube which has a head (12) which is expandable radially and axially by means of an oscillating element (24) driven from a reciprocati...

A miniature transducer designed for use in a medical imaging system catheter probe is disclosed. The transducer has an electric cavity and coaxial construction for preventing electric fields from being emitted or received by the transducers. The construction of the transducer enables two to be mounted very close to one another on a thin catheter probe, one for transmitting acoustic pulses and the other for sensing echoes in response to the acoustic pulses, for imaging extremely close targets. Th...

An apparatus for extracorporeal lithotripsy includes a shock wave source which generates shock waves converging in focus a zone, within which a calculus to be disintegrated is disposed. The shock wave source can be selectively driven to generate high-intensity shock waves for disintegrating the calculus, and for generating low-intensity shock waves for imaging purposes. A pressure sensor is disposed between the focus zone and the shock wave source to register the reflections of the low-intensity...