Non-contact damage-free ultrasonic cleaning of implanted or natural structures having moving parts and located in a living body
First Claim
1. Apparatus capable of the non-contact or damage-free removal, breakdown or erosion of undesirable deposits situated:
- (a) on or in an implanted artificial or bioprosthetic device having at least one moving or movable part or portion, or (b) on or in a natural bodily member or organ having a naturally moving part or portion, the deposits interfering or potentially interfering with at least one of (a) any designed function or maintenance of said implanted device, (b) any natural function of said natural bodily member or organ or (c) any circulatory system process necessary for normal healthy living, said apparatus comprising;
an acoustic emitter capable of emitting acoustic energy;
a means for exciting said acoustic emitter to emit acoustic energy;
a means for acoustically coupling said acoustic energy into said deposits directly or indirectly;
a means for operating said emitter(s) to at least partially remove, break-down or otherwise erode said deposits; and
optionally, an administered drug to aid said removal or erosion process, to prevent or slow further such deposits, or to treat a side-effect of treatment with said acoustic emitter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Ultrasonic, sonic or vibratory energy, delivered non-invasively, minimally invasively or invasively (e.g. surgically), is utilized to provide direct cleaning action at or to the location of the implanted device such as a prosthetic heart valve with undesirable deposits of at least some amount thereon or therein. Such ultra-sound energy may be aided by the use of a drug in association or cooperation with the acoustic irradiation. The “cleaning” acoustic energy may optionally be delivered under the guidance of an imaging modality and may be delivered in a timed or gated manner such that the valve occluders or leaflets are in a preferred position (assuming they are functioning) during exposures.
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Citations
88 Claims
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1. Apparatus capable of the non-contact or damage-free removal, breakdown or erosion of undesirable deposits situated:
- (a) on or in an implanted artificial or bioprosthetic device having at least one moving or movable part or portion, or (b) on or in a natural bodily member or organ having a naturally moving part or portion, the deposits interfering or potentially interfering with at least one of (a) any designed function or maintenance of said implanted device, (b) any natural function of said natural bodily member or organ or (c) any circulatory system process necessary for normal healthy living, said apparatus comprising;
an acoustic emitter capable of emitting acoustic energy;
a means for exciting said acoustic emitter to emit acoustic energy;
a means for acoustically coupling said acoustic energy into said deposits directly or indirectly;
a means for operating said emitter(s) to at least partially remove, break-down or otherwise erode said deposits; and
optionally, an administered drug to aid said removal or erosion process, to prevent or slow further such deposits, or to treat a side-effect of treatment with said acoustic emitter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84)
- (a) on or in an implanted artificial or bioprosthetic device having at least one moving or movable part or portion, or (b) on or in a natural bodily member or organ having a naturally moving part or portion, the deposits interfering or potentially interfering with at least one of (a) any designed function or maintenance of said implanted device, (b) any natural function of said natural bodily member or organ or (c) any circulatory system process necessary for normal healthy living, said apparatus comprising;
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85. An acoustic method capable of the non-contact removal, break-down or erosion of undesirable deposits on or in an implant comprising an implanted artificial or bioprosthetic device having at least one moving or movable part or portion, the deposits interfering or potentially interfering with at least one of (a) the designed proper functioning or maintenance of said implant or (b) a natural circulatory system process necessary for normal living, said method comprising:
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providing an acoustic emitter capable of emitting acoustic energy;
exciting said acoustic emitter to emit said acoustic energy;
acoustically coupling said acoustic energy into said deposits, directly or indirectly, to at least partially remove, break-down or otherwise erode said deposits;
either passing said at least partially removed deposits or otherwise broken-down or eroded deposits into the body or physically removing said at least partially removed deposits or otherwise eroded or broken-down deposits by a collection or trapping means; and
optionally administering a drug to aid said removal, said deposits thereby being at least partially removed from said implant.
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86. A method of assessing the state of fouling by undesirable deposits of an implant or of a natural valve in a living body, the implant or valve having at least one moving or movable part, said method comprising:
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obtaining, in any manner, an acoustic signature of the operation of said implant or valve or valve-model at least under unfouled conditions inside or outside a living body;
obtaining, in any manner, using passive reception or pulse-echo active probing, an acoustic signature of said implant or valve thought to possibly have fouling thereon or therein;
the possibly-fouled signature containing at least one of;
(1) naturally generated acoustic features known to be caused by fouling, and (2) artificially excited features known to be excited upon the presence of fouling;
comparing the fingerprints looking for fouling features that have newly been incorporated into the signature; and
concluding that newly added features which match known fouling features indicate fouling. - View Dependent Claims (87, 88)
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Specification