Localized production of microbubbles and control of cavitational and heating effects by use of enhanced ultrasound
First Claim
1. A method of using ultrasound waves focused at a specific location in a medium to cause localized production of bubbles at said location, to control said production, and to control the cavitational and heating effects that take place at said location;
- wherein, said production and control is accomplished by selecting the range of parameters of multiple transducers focused at said location in order to produce one of the waveforms chosen from the following group;
a waveform comprising high negative peaks and small positive peaks, said waveform encouraging the creation of a cloud of microbubbles;
a waveform encouraging the production of heat and the limitation the growth and possible implosion of said microbubbles; and
a combined waveform comprising a spatial and/or temporal combination of two waveforms—
one waveform comprising high negative peaks and small positive peaks and the second waveform comprising high positive peaks and only small negative peaks, said combined waveform allowing control of the size distribution of the microbubbles and temporal changes of this distribution.
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Abstract
The invention is a method of using ultrasound waves that are focused at a specific location in a medium to cause localized production of bubbles at that location and to control the production, and the cavitational and heating effects that take place there. According to the method of the invention, the production and control is accomplished by selecting the range of parameters of multiple transducers that are focused at the location such that they produce by interference specific waveforms at the focal point, which are not produced at other locations. Preferably the region within the focal zone of all the transducers in which the specific waveform develops at significant intensities, is typically very small. The invention is also a system for carrying out the method. The method and system of the invention can be used to perform a variety of therapeutic procedures. Typical of such procedures is occlusion of varicose veins.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method of using ultrasound waves focused at a specific location in a medium to cause localized production of bubbles at said location, to control said production, and to control the cavitational and heating effects that take place at said location;
- wherein, said production and control is accomplished by selecting the range of parameters of multiple transducers focused at said location in order to produce one of the waveforms chosen from the following group;
a waveform comprising high negative peaks and small positive peaks, said waveform encouraging the creation of a cloud of microbubbles;
a waveform encouraging the production of heat and the limitation the growth and possible implosion of said microbubbles; and
a combined waveform comprising a spatial and/or temporal combination of two waveforms—
one waveform comprising high negative peaks and small positive peaks and the second waveform comprising high positive peaks and only small negative peaks, said combined waveform allowing control of the size distribution of the microbubbles and temporal changes of this distribution. - 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)
- wherein, said production and control is accomplished by selecting the range of parameters of multiple transducers focused at said location in order to produce one of the waveforms chosen from the following group;
Specification