System for Treatment of Diseased Tissue Using Controlled Ultrasonic Heating
First Claim
31. A system for delivering thermal treatment to diseased tissue in a treatment volume, comprising:
- an ultrasonic thermal applicator including at least one transducer element that is driven by a transducer driving signal having a driving frequency and a driving amplitude, said at least one transducer providing a nominally directional ultrasonic beam into the treatment volume;
an imaging apparatus adapted for acquiring thermal data from the treatment volume;
a treatment controller having an input from the imaging apparatus and an output to control said transducer driving signal, said transducer driving signal being at least partially dependent on said input from the imaging apparatus; and
a thermal applicator motion controller that can rotate said ultrasonic thermal applicator, and consequently said nominally directional ultrasonic beam, in an angular motion about an axial dimension of the ultrasonic thermal applicator.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for delivering and controlling thermal therapy to a volume of diseased tissue. Specifically, the invention includes using thermal imaging and other inputs to determine an acoustic (ultrasonic) treatment regime employing interstitial ultrasound applicators to deliver a required therapeutic temperature or thermal dose to the affected region in a body or organ. Various aspects of the treatment that can be controlled include individual transducer element operating power and frequency, as well as the rate of cooling and rotation of the entire applicator.
-
Citations
50 Claims
-
31. A system for delivering thermal treatment to diseased tissue in a treatment volume, comprising:
- an ultrasonic thermal applicator including at least one transducer element that is driven by a transducer driving signal having a driving frequency and a driving amplitude, said at least one transducer providing a nominally directional ultrasonic beam into the treatment volume;
an imaging apparatus adapted for acquiring thermal data from the treatment volume;
a treatment controller having an input from the imaging apparatus and an output to control said transducer driving signal, said transducer driving signal being at least partially dependent on said input from the imaging apparatus; and
a thermal applicator motion controller that can rotate said ultrasonic thermal applicator, and consequently said nominally directional ultrasonic beam, in an angular motion about an axial dimension of the ultrasonic thermal applicator. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
- an ultrasonic thermal applicator including at least one transducer element that is driven by a transducer driving signal having a driving frequency and a driving amplitude, said at least one transducer providing a nominally directional ultrasonic beam into the treatment volume;
-
43. A method for controlling a thermal treatment of diseased tissue in a treatment volume, comprising:
- measuring a spatial thermal distribution in at least a portion of the treatment volume;
determining whether a thermal treatment objective has been met within at least a portion of the treatment volume;
calculating a set of control parameters that control the heating of the diseased tissue in at least the portion of the treatment volume;
delivering a driving signal to a thermal applicator according to the calculated set of control parameters. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
- measuring a spatial thermal distribution in at least a portion of the treatment volume;
Specification