Therapy apparatus for locating and treating a zone in the body of a life form with acoustic waves
First Claim
1. A therapy apparatus for locating and treating a zone in the body of a living subject with acoustic waves comprising:
- means for generating therapeutic acoustic waves at a first frequency and for focusing said therapeutic acoustic waves onto a zone of action; and
acoustic locating means for generating an image of a zone to be treated in said subject simultaneously with the generation of therapeutic acoustic waves, for assisting in bringing said zone of action into coincidence with said zone to be treated, said acoustic locating means including means for emitting diagnostic acoustic waves at a second frequency and for receiving parts of said diagnostic acoustic waves reflected in the body of said subject and for converting said parts into electrical signals, means for generating said image from said electrical signals, and filter means for suppressing a fundamental of the focused therapeutic acoustic waves having a transfer function with a rejection band wherein said first frequency lies and a passband wherein said second frequency lies.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A therapy apparatus for locating and treating a zone in the body of a living subject with focused, therapeutic ultrasound waves having a first frequency includes an ultrasound locating system which emits diagnostic ultrasound having a second frequency, and which receives parts of the diagnostic ultrasound reflected in the body of the subject and converts them into electrical signals which are used to form an image of the zone to be treated with the subject. In order to permit the locating system to be operated simultaneously with the generation of therapeutic waves, and thus to be able to generate a continuous image without disturbances caused by therapeutic waves, the electrical signals are supplied, before forming the image, to a filter having a transfer function with a rejection band wherein the first frequency lies and a passband wherein the second frequency lies. The output signals from the filter are then used to generate the image.
369 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A therapy apparatus for locating and treating a zone in the body of a living subject with acoustic waves comprising:
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means for generating therapeutic acoustic waves at a first frequency and for focusing said therapeutic acoustic waves onto a zone of action; and acoustic locating means for generating an image of a zone to be treated in said subject simultaneously with the generation of therapeutic acoustic waves, for assisting in bringing said zone of action into coincidence with said zone to be treated, said acoustic locating means including means for emitting diagnostic acoustic waves at a second frequency and for receiving parts of said diagnostic acoustic waves reflected in the body of said subject and for converting said parts into electrical signals, means for generating said image from said electrical signals, and filter means for suppressing a fundamental of the focused therapeutic acoustic waves having a transfer function with a rejection band wherein said first frequency lies and a passband wherein said second frequency lies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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5. A therapy apparatus as claimed in claim I wherein said means for emitting diagnostic acoustic waves comprises means for emitting diagnostic ultrasound.
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12. A therapy apparatus as claimed in claim I wherein said filter means comprises a low-pass filter.
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23. A method for locating and treating a zone in the body of a living subject with acoustic waves comprising the steps of:
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generating therapeutic acoustic waves at a first frequency and focusing said therapeutic acoustic waves onto a zone of action; and generating an image of a zone to be treated in said subject simultaneously with the generation of therapeutic acoustic waves, for assisting in bringing said zone of action into coincidence with said zone to be treated, by emitting diagnostic acoustic waves at a second frequency and receiving parts of said diagnostic acoustic waves reflected in the body of said subject and converting said parts into electrical signals, and generating said image from said electrical signals, and filter, and suppressing a fundamental of the focused therapeutic acoustic waves during the generation of said image. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification