Oncological Ameliorization by Irradiation and/or Ensonification of Tumor Vascularization

• US 20110130689A1
• Filed: 06/28/2010
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alexander Shelman-Cohen, Nathan Cohen
• Original Assignee: Alexander Shelman-Cohen, Nathan Cohen
• Inventors: Shelman-Cohen, Alexander, Cohen, Nathan
• Granted Patent: US 10,639,096 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 601/3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1477 Needle-like probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/18 by applying electromagnetic radiation, e.g. microwaves radiation therapy A61N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00083 low, i.e. electrically insulating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00196 reciprocating lengthwise
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00577 Ablation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/1425 Needle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2218/002 Irrigation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/00 Ultrasound therapy lithotripsy A61B17/22, A61B17/225; massage using supersonic vibration A61H23/00 ; using ultrasound for introducing media into the body A61M37/0092
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/02 Localised ultrasound hyperthermia hyperthermia in general A61F7/00

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed, including methods and systems/apparatus, that can be used to treat cancerous tissue by exploiting the fact that such tissues have vascular branching with fractal descriptions and fractal dimensions, which are different from those found in normal soft tissue vascular branching. Such fractal branching of diseased tissue can produce resonances, or preferential energy absorption, when irradiated by either ultrasound and/or radio frequencies of EM energy; these resonances are not shared by the vascularization in normal soft tissue. Accordingly, one or more specific arrangements of multiband radiation (e.g., RF and/or ultrasonic) used to irradiate such diseased tissue will cause heating and possibly localized necropsy of tumor blood vessels, with little or minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Embodiments can utilize ablation devices in conjunction with RF and/or ultrasonic sources. Embodiments can further utilize chemotherapy (before, during, or after hyperthermic treatment) for enhancing cancer treatment.

Claims

1. A system for ameliorization and reduction of tumor growth, the system comprising:

an energy source configured and arranged to produce energy; and

a transmitter configured and arranged to receive the energy produced by the energy source and direct it to a location including diseased tissue, wherein at least a portion of the transmitter has a fractal shape.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy source is a RF source.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy source is an ultrasonic source.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an ablation tip with an RF electrode.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the energy source is configured to produce RF energy within a range of 1-100 MHz.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the energy source is configured to produce ultrasonic energy within a range of 1-50 MHz.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter includes a RF antenna.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter includes an ultrasonic transducer.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the fractal shape is a Secord-order deterministic fractal.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the RF antenna comprises an aperture engine surface.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a chemotherapeutic agent.

12. An RF ablation device for delivering chemotherapeutic agents to a tissue treatment site and for creating a diffusion barrier capsule to impede diffusion of chemotherapeutic agents from the tissue treatment site, the ablation device comprising:

a hollow tubular RF electrode having a closed, sharpened distal tip and a conductive surface to which RF power is supplied to heat the tissue treatment site to a desired temperature, wherein the RF electrode has a portion configured and arranged as a fractal shape.

13. The RF ablation device of claim 12, wherein the RF electrode further comprises a plurality of fluid distribution ports distributed along the length of the electrode for delivering chemotherapeutic agents to the tissue treatment site;

and

a fluid distribution port blocking implement positioned within the hollow tubular RF electrode whose position within the electrode is adjustable to prevent fluid from passing through one or more of the plurality of fluid distribution ports.

14. The RF ablation device of claim 12, wherein the device further includes an insulating sleeve covering the electrode, the insulating sleeve being moveable along the length of the electrode to define an electrode conductive surface.

15. The RF ablation device of claim 12, wherein the electrode includes a plurality of conductive segments for delivering RF energy, each conductive segment being insulated from neighboring segments and connected to a power delivery controller that is operational to control the power delivered to each conductive segment.

16. The RF ablation device of claim 12, wherein the fractal shape is a second order, deterministic fractal.

17. A method of treating diseased tissue, the method comprising:

producing non-harmonic, non-continuous, multiband spectral emission of radiation;

directing the radiation at diseased tissue; and

selectively, compared to healthy tissue, producing hyperthermic necropsy in fractalized blood vessels of the diseased tissue.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the radiation is RF radiation.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the radiation is ultrasonic radiation.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising selecting the attributes of the multiband radiation to match one or more resonance frequencies of the fractal-shaped vascularization of the diseased tissue.