Method and Apparatus for Skin Cancer Thermal Therapy
First Claim
1. An apparatus for treatment of soft tissue, comprising:
- a source of radiation;
a handpiece which is adapted to transmit radiation emitted from the source of radiation to a region of soft tissue, resulting in irradiated soft tissue, said handpiece being positioned adjacent to or in contact with said soft tissue region, said soft tissue including at least one normal tissue component surrounding or interspersed with at least one malignant, hypertrophic, diseased, or unwanted component;
a grid element, adapted to hold at least one temperature sensor in contact with or embedded in said region of soft tissue;
a microprocessor, which converts a signal from the at least one temperature sensor into a measure of damage produced in at least two components of the irradiated soft tissue, said components comprising at least one normal tissue component and at least one malignant, hypertrophic, diseased, or unwanted component, the damage produced in the at least one normal tissue component being less than the damage produced in the at least one malignant, hypertrophic, diseased, or unwanted component.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for treatment of soft tissue includes a source of radiation, a handpiece which is adapted to transmit radiation emitted from the source of radiation to a region of soft tissue, resulting in irradiated soft tissue, said handpiece being positioned adjacent to or in contact with said soft tissue region, a grid element adapted to hold at least one temperature sensor in contact with or embedded in said region of soft tissue, and a microprocessor, which converts a signal from the at least one temperature sensor into a measure of damage produced in at least two components of the irradiated soft tissue, said components comprising at least one normal tissue component and at least one malignant, hypertrophic, diseased, or unwanted component.
-
Citations
28 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for treatment of soft tissue, comprising:
-
a source of radiation; a handpiece which is adapted to transmit radiation emitted from the source of radiation to a region of soft tissue, resulting in irradiated soft tissue, said handpiece being positioned adjacent to or in contact with said soft tissue region, said soft tissue including at least one normal tissue component surrounding or interspersed with at least one malignant, hypertrophic, diseased, or unwanted component; a grid element, adapted to hold at least one temperature sensor in contact with or embedded in said region of soft tissue; a microprocessor, which converts a signal from the at least one temperature sensor into a measure of damage produced in at least two components of the irradiated soft tissue, said components comprising at least one normal tissue component and at least one malignant, hypertrophic, diseased, or unwanted component, the damage produced in the at least one normal tissue component being less than the damage produced in the at least one malignant, hypertrophic, diseased, or unwanted component. - View Dependent Claims (2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
3. (canceled)
-
4. (canceled)
-
6. (canceled)
-
7. (canceled)
-
17-19. -19. (canceled)
-
20. A method of heating a biological tissue by application of radiation, said tissue comprising at least one normal component and at least one abnormal, diseased, hypertrophic, malignant, or otherwise unwanted component, the method comprising:
-
irradiating a treatment region of the tissue to cause thermal injury to the at least one normal component and the at least one unwanted component; monitoring accumulation of thermal injury during irradiation to the at least one normal component and the at least one unwanted component; and ending irradiation when the at least one unwanted component has been substantially injured by heat. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. (canceled)
-
26. A method of treating a region of skin comprising:
-
irradiating the region of skin with a light source adapted to produce preferential injury to blood vessels of a dermal region; and irradiating the region of skin with radiation at a wavelength within a range of about 1100 nm to about 1310 nm. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
-
Specification