Method for treatment of unwanted veins and device therefor

• US 5,843,072 A
• Filed: 11/07/1996
• Issued: 12/01/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cynosure Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cynosure Incorporated
• Inventors: McDaniel, David H., Cho, George, Furumoto, Horace W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bahr, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): GIBSON, ROY DEAN
• Application Number:
  US08/745,133
• Time in Patent Office: 754 Days
• Field of Search: 604/20, 606/9, 606/10, 606/12, 128/898
• US Class Current: 606/9
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/203 applying laser energy to the outside of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00172 Pulse trains, bursts, intermittent continuous operation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/22085 light-absorbing A61B2017/22087 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00452 Skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00476 Hair follicles
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/08 Generation of pulses with special temporal shape or frequency spectrum
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/08072 Thermal lensing or thermally induced birefringence; Compensation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/092 of flash lamp H01S3/0937 takes precedence ; flash lamps per se H01J61/80; circuit arrangements for operating flash lamps in general H05B41/30
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1633 BeAl2O4, i.e. Chrysoberyl

Abstract

A combined sclerotherapy and light treatment method is described for the treatment of unwanted veins such as varicose and telangiectatic leg veins. Substantially increased success, in the range of 90-100%, has been achieved by implementing a dwell time of between 12 hours and 6 months between the light-based therapy and the sclerotherapy. Near infra-red wavelength light is preferably used in the light therapy due to its better depths of penetration through the skin to deeper lying, larger vessels such as varicose veins.

Claims

1. A method for treating unwanted blood vessels, comprising:

irradiating the vessels with light to denature the vessels or vessel walls;

performing sclerotherapy on the vessels; and

waiting for a dwell time of from 12 hours to 6 months between the irradiation of the vessels and the sclerotherapy.

2. The method described in claim 1, further comprising performing the step of irradiating the vessels prior to performing the sclerotherapy on the vessels.

3. The method described in claim 1, wherein the step of performing sclerotherapy comprises injecting a sclerosing agent into the vessels.

4. The method described in claim 3, wherein the sclerosing agent comprises a hypertonic saline solution.

5. The method described in claim 1, further comprising:

observing the unwanted vessels for size;

selecting a pulse duration for the irradiation based upon the observed size; and

performing the irradiation for the selected pulse duration.

6. The method described in claim 5, wherein performing the irradiation comprises generating a series of separate light pulses over the selected pulse duration.

7. The method described in claim 1, further comprising:

observing the unwanted vessels for depth;

selecting a wavelength of the light based at least in part upon the observed depth; and

performing the irradiation with light of the selected wavelength.

8. The method described in claim 1, wherein the step of irradiating the vessels comprises irradiating the vessels with near-infrared light.

9. The method described in claim 8, wherein performing the irradiation comprises generating a series of separate light pulses over a selected pulse duration.

10. The method described in claim 1, further comprising placing a marker on the skin prior to the irradiation to indicate portions of the skin that have been irradiated after the irradiation.

11. The method described in claim 1, further comprising performing the step of sclerotherapy prior to the step of irradiating the vessels.

12. The method described in claim 11, wherein the step of irradiating the vessels comprises irradiating the vessels with near-infrared light.

13. The method described in claim 1, further comprising irradiating vessels deeper than 1 millimeter.

14. A method for treating unwanted blood vessels, comprising:

observing the unwanted vessels for size;

selecting a pulse duration for the irradiation based upon the observed size;

irradiating the vessels with light of approximately 755 nm for the selected pulse duration to initiate destruction of the vessels;

waiting for a dwell time of between 12 hours and 6 months after the irradiation of the vessels to allow the effects of the irradiation to mature; and

performing sclerotherapy on the vessels after the expiration of the dwell time.