Apparatus for the treatment of biological tissue and corporal concretions
First Claim
1. An apparatus for the treatment of the human body by means of focussed acoustical waves, comprising:
- a sound generating unit shaped so that its generated wave is an essentially plane wave, and having an acoustical impedance, said sound generating unit being triggered by a control unit to generate acoustic waves having a selected specific frequencies and energies;
a rigid focussing unit comprising a Fresnel lens-like structure disposed in a fixed spatial relationship to said sound generating unit whereby said focussing unit focusses the waves generated by said sound generating unit in a desired selected focal range, the material of said focussing unit having an acoustical impedance;
manipulation means attached to said focussing unit for positioning said apparatus relative to a human body;
a coupling medium for coupling said focussing unit to a human body said coupling medium having an acoustical impedance;
the acoustical impedance of said focussing material lying between the acoustical impedance of said sound generating unit and the acoustical impedance of the coupling medium, said coupling medium being situated in the sound path between said focussing unit and said human body, said focussing unit serving as a carrier for the entire structure; and
at least one adaption layer positioned between said radiation area of said sound generating unit and of said sound entry area of the focussing unit, the acoustical impedance of said adaption laying between that of said focussing unit and that of the acoustical impedance of said sound generating unit.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is an apparatus for the treatment of biological tissue as well as for destroying concretions by means of focussed acoustic waves, having
a sound generating unit which a control unit triggers in such a manner that the unit generates acoustic waves of a specific frequency and energy, and
a focussing unit which focusses the generated waves in a focal area.
The present invention is distinguished by the sound generating unit (2) being provided, in an as such known manner, with a plane or only slightly curved radiation area in such a manner that the generated wave is an essentially plane wave and that the focussing unit (5) disposed in a fixed spatial relationship to the sound generating unit being provided with a Fresnel lenslike structure on the sound entry and/or sound exit area.
186 Citations
29 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for the treatment of the human body by means of focussed acoustical waves, comprising:
-
a sound generating unit shaped so that its generated wave is an essentially plane wave, and having an acoustical impedance, said sound generating unit being triggered by a control unit to generate acoustic waves having a selected specific frequencies and energies; a rigid focussing unit comprising a Fresnel lens-like structure disposed in a fixed spatial relationship to said sound generating unit whereby said focussing unit focusses the waves generated by said sound generating unit in a desired selected focal range, the material of said focussing unit having an acoustical impedance; manipulation means attached to said focussing unit for positioning said apparatus relative to a human body; a coupling medium for coupling said focussing unit to a human body said coupling medium having an acoustical impedance; the acoustical impedance of said focussing material lying between the acoustical impedance of said sound generating unit and the acoustical impedance of the coupling medium, said coupling medium being situated in the sound path between said focussing unit and said human body, said focussing unit serving as a carrier for the entire structure; and at least one adaption layer positioned between said radiation area of said sound generating unit and of said sound entry area of the focussing unit, the acoustical impedance of said adaption laying between that of said focussing unit and that of the acoustical impedance of said sound generating unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
Specification