Thermal control of body functions

• US 3,901,224 A
• Filed: 08/27/1973
• Issued: 08/26/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Louis Bucalo
• Original Assignee: Louis Bucalo
• Inventors: Bucalo, Louis
• Primary Examiner(s): Trapp, Lawrence W.
• Application Number:
  US05/391,886
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 128/399-402,82.1,303.1,303.12,1,130,138R,214A
• US Class Current: 607/113
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/4216 Operations on uterus, e.g. endometrium
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00095 high, i.e. heat conducting
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 6/06 for use by females A61F6/20 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 6/14 intra-uterine type
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 7/12 Devices for heating or cooling internal body cavities

Abstract

A method and device for thermally controlling body functions. A thermally conductive element is situated in the interior of the body at a location where a change in temperature will regulate a body function, and the temperature of this element is controlled in order to regulate the body function. Thus, the device may include a thermally conductive element situated either in the uterus of a female or a vas deferens of a male for placing ova or sperm in a condition where they are incapable of producing a fertilized ovum.

Claims

1. In a method for controlling a body function, the steps of introducing a thermally conductive element in its entirety into the interior of a cavity of the body of a living being where a body fluid flows at least periodically, to which access can be had only by a medical procedure, and where a function will change with a temperature change, without providing any substantial obstruction to the flow of body fluid in the cavity and while providing for the cavity a size and shape which is substantially the same after said thermally conductive element is introduced into said cavity as before said element was introduced into said cavity, and controlling the temperature of the thermally conductive element so as to control the function.

2. In a method as recited in claim 1 and wherein said thermally conductive element is electrically conductive and has one temperature when conducting electricity and another temperature when not conducting electricity, and conducting electricity through said element according to a predetermined program at given time intervals and frequencies for controlling the body function.

3. In a method as recited in claim 1 and wherein said thermally conductive element has one temperature when traversed by lines of magnetic flux and another temperature when not traversed by lines of magnetic flux, and moving a magnetic field with respect to said element according to a predetermined program for controlling the body function.

4. In a method as recited in claim 1 and wherein said thermally conductive element is electrically conductive and provides when conducting electricity a temperature higher than when not conducting electricity, and conducting electricity through said element for raising the temperature in the interior of the body to control the body function.

5. In a method as recited in claim 1 and wherein said thermally conductive element has an elevated temperature when traversed by lines of magnetic flux, and creating at said thermally conductive element a magnetic field which by magnetic induction elevates the temperature of said thermally conductive element for controlling the body function.

6. In a method for controlling a body function the steps of introducing a thermally conductive element into the interior of a cavity oF the body of a living being where a body fluid flows at least periodically, to which access can be had only by a medical procedure, and where a function will change with a temperature change, without providing any substantial obstruction to the flow of body fluid in the cavity, and controlling the temperature of the thermally conductive element so as to control the function, said thermally conductive element being situated in the interior of the body at a part thereof where there are components such as sperm or ova essential for conception, and controlling the temperature of said thermally conductive element to place said components in a condition preventing conception.

7. In a method as recited in claim 6 and wherein said thermally conductive element is situated in the uterus of a female.

8. In a method for controlling a body function, the steps of situating a thermally conductive element in the interior of the body of a living being at a location where a function will change with a temperature change, and controlling the temperature of the thermally conductive element so as to control the function, with said thermally conductive element situated in the interior of the body at a part thereof where there are components such as sperm or ova essential for conception, and controlling the temperature of said thermally conductive element to place said components in a condition preventing conception, said thermally conductive element being at at least one vas deferens of a male.

9. A device for thermally controlling a body function, comprising a temperature-regulating implant to be situated in its entirety in the interior of a body cavity to which access can only be had by a medical procedure and in which a body fluid flows at least periodically, said implant having a size and configuration which will not obstruct the flow of fluid through the body cavity to any substantial extent and which is capable of being received in said body cavity without substantially changing the size and shape thereof, and means cooperating with said implant for operating the latter to control temperature.

10. The combination of claim 9 and wherein said implant is electrically conductive and said means includes a source of electricity connected electrically with said implant.

11. The combination of claim 9 and wherein said implant is made of a material whose temperature changes in response to magnetic induction, and said means providing a magnetic field in which the implant is located.

12. The combination of claim 9 and wherein said implant is in the form of an electrically conductive wire and said means is electrically connected with said wire and includes a source of electricity for conducting electricity through said wire.

13. The combination of claim 9 and wherein said means is also in the form of an implant to be situated in the body together with said temperature-regulating implant.

14. The combination of claim 12 and wherein said means is adapted to be situated at the exterior of a body, and electrical conductors connecting said means to said implant, and means carried by the body for supporting the conductors in a position extending between the interior and exterior of the body.

15. A device for thermally controlling a body function, comprising a temperature-regulating implant to be situated in the interior of a body, and means cooperating with said implant for operating the latter to control temperature, said implant being an IUD composed of a network of electrical wires which intersect each other and have a relatively high resistance at their intersections for providing elevated temperatures at said intersections when electricity is applied to said wires, and said means being electrically connected with said wires for supplying electricity thereto.

16. A device for thermally controlling a body function, comprising a temperature-regulating implant to be situated in the interior of a body, and means cooperating with said implant for operating the latter to control tempeRature, said temperature-regulating implant being in the form of a high-frequency heating coil placed around at least one vas deferens, said means including a source of electricity electrically connected with said coil for supplying high-frequency current thereto.

17. A device for thermally controlling a body function, comprising a temperature-regulating implant to be situated in the interior of a body, and means cooperating with said implant for operating the latter to control temperature, said implant being in the form of a tube adapted to be implanted in at least one vas deferens of a male.

18. The combination of claim 17 and wherein said tube responds to magnetic induction for creating in the interior of the vas deferens a temperature sufficiently high to render sperm incapable of fertilizing an ovum.