Treatment systems, small volume applicators, and methods for treating submental tissue
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for treating a subject'"'"'s tissue, comprising:
- a thermally conductive cup including a first sidewall, a second sidewall, a first end wall, a second end wall, and a bottom, the bottom mechanically and thermally interconnects the first and second sidewalls such that cooling of only one of the sidewalls or the bottom results in the bottom, the first sidewall, and the second sidewall being similarly cooled;
a lip having a first lip portion along the first sidewall and second lip portion along the second sidewall;
a tissue-receiving cavity having a length between the first and second end walls, wherein the bottom of the thermally conductive cup, the first lip portion, and the second lip portion are each curved along the length of the tissue-receiving cavity such that the tissue-receiving cavity has a substantially uniform depth between the bottom and the lip along the length of the tissue-receiving cavity;
at least one vacuum port in fluid communication with the tissue-receiving cavity to provide a vacuum for drawing the tissue into the tissue-receiving cavity, wherein the tissue-receiving cavity is sufficiently shallow to allow the subject'"'"'s tissue to occupy substantially the entire tissue-receiving cavity when the vacuum is drawn via the at least one vacuum port; and
a thermal device in thermal communication with only part of the conductive cup such that when the thermal element cools the part of the conductive cup the first sidewall, the second sidewall, and the bottom together cool an entire area of the subject'"'"'s skin within the tissue-receiving cavity to non-invasively cool subcutaneous lipid-rich cells in the tissue an amount sufficient to be biologically effective in damaging and/or reducing the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells.
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Abstract
Systems for treating a subject'"'"'s tissue can include a thermally conductive cup, a tissue-receiving cavity, and a vacuum port. The vacuum port is in fluid communication with the tissue-receiving cavity to provide a vacuum for drawing the submental tissue, or other targeted tissue, into the tissue-receiving cavity. A thermal device can cool and/or heat the conductive cup such that the conductive cup non-invasively controls the temperature of subcutaneous lipid-rich cells in the tissue. A restraint apparatus can hold a the conductive cup in thermal contact with the target region.
681 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An apparatus for treating a subject'"'"'s tissue, comprising:
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a thermally conductive cup including a first sidewall, a second sidewall, a first end wall, a second end wall, and a bottom, the bottom mechanically and thermally interconnects the first and second sidewalls such that cooling of only one of the sidewalls or the bottom results in the bottom, the first sidewall, and the second sidewall being similarly cooled; a lip having a first lip portion along the first sidewall and second lip portion along the second sidewall; a tissue-receiving cavity having a length between the first and second end walls, wherein the bottom of the thermally conductive cup, the first lip portion, and the second lip portion are each curved along the length of the tissue-receiving cavity such that the tissue-receiving cavity has a substantially uniform depth between the bottom and the lip along the length of the tissue-receiving cavity; at least one vacuum port in fluid communication with the tissue-receiving cavity to provide a vacuum for drawing the tissue into the tissue-receiving cavity, wherein the tissue-receiving cavity is sufficiently shallow to allow the subject'"'"'s tissue to occupy substantially the entire tissue-receiving cavity when the vacuum is drawn via the at least one vacuum port; and a thermal device in thermal communication with only part of the conductive cup such that when the thermal element cools the part of the conductive cup the first sidewall, the second sidewall, and the bottom together cool an entire area of the subject'"'"'s skin within the tissue-receiving cavity to non-invasively cool subcutaneous lipid-rich cells in the tissue an amount sufficient to be biologically effective in damaging and/or reducing the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for treating a subject'"'"'s tissue, comprising:
a vacuum applicator including a tissue-receiving cavity defined by a thermally conductive cup including a first sidewall, a second sidewall, a pair of end walls, and a bottom that mechanically and thermally interconnects the first and second sidewalls, wherein the tissue-receiving cavity has a length between the pair of end walls, and wherein the bottom is curved along the length of the tissue-receiving cavity, a contoured lip defining a mouth of the tissue-receiving cavity and including a first arcuate lip portion and a second arcuate lip portion, wherein the first and second arcuate lip portions are curved along the length of the tissue-receiving cavity, wherein the curvature of the bottom of the thermally conductive cup is same as the curvature of the first and second arcuate lip portions such that the tissue-receiving cavity has a substantially uniform depth between the bottom and the contoured lip along most of the length of the tissue-receiving cavity, wherein the contoured lip is configured to engage an area of the subject such that tissue of the subject extends through the mouth and fills substantially all of the tissue-receiving cavity while the vacuum applicator draws a vacuum and the first and second arcuate lip portions surround at least a portion of the subject'"'"'s body, and a thermal device positioned to be in thermal contact with the tissue in the tissue-receiving cavity such that the thermal device is operable to cool the thermally conductive cup such that heat-exchanging surfaces of the first and second sidewalls and a bottom heat-exchanging surface, which connects the heat-exchanging surfaces of the first and second sidewalls, are at substantially the same temperature so as to cool substantially all of the subject'"'"'s subcutaneous tissue located the tissue-receiving cavity to non-invasively cool subcutaneous lipid-rich cells in the tissue an amount sufficient to be biologically effective in damaging and/or reducing the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of non-invasively cooling a target region of a subject, the method comprising:
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placing an applicator on the subject, wherein the applicator includes a vacuum cup having a bottom and a lip, wherein the vacuum cup defines a tissue-receiving cavity having a longitudinal axis, and wherein the lip and the bottom are similarly curved along the longitudinal axis such that the tissue-receiving cavity has a substantially uniform depth between the lip and the bottom along the longitudinal axis; drawing tissue through the tissue-receiving cavity and into thermal contact with a section of the vacuum cup located at a bottom of the tissue-receiving cavity; and conductively extracting heat from the tissue to the applicator to conductively cool substantially all of the subject'"'"'s skin contacting the section of the vacuum cup located at the bottom of the tissue-receiving cavity and to conductively cool substantially all of the subject'"'"'s skin contacting sidewalls of the vacuum cup such that an entire area of the vacuum cup thermally contacting the skin is at a temperature below −
5 degrees C. so as to cool the subject'"'"'s subcutaneous tissue an amount sufficient to be biologically effective in selectively damaging and/or reducing subcutaneous lipid-rich cells. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification