Method and apparatus for treatment of cutaneous and subcutaneous conditions
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for treating at least a selected target region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting non-targeted tissue comprising:
- (a) cooling the patient'"'"'s skin surface to a temperature below normal body temperature for a selected duration;
(b) selectively applying radiation to the patient'"'"'s skin above said region at least one of before, during and after step (a); and
(c) repeating at least one of steps (a) and (b) for a selected number of cycles, the temperature to which the patient'"'"'s skin surface is cooled and said duration being sufficient to cool said region to a selected temperature below normal body temperature during at least cooling portions of cycles, wherein said region is at or below the border zone of the dermis and hypodermis.
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Abstract
The present invention provides method and apparatus for treating tissue in a region at depth while protecting non-targeted tissue by cyclically applying cooling to the patients skin, and preferably to the region, and by applying radiation to the patient'"'"'s skin above the region to selectively heat tissue during and/or after cooling is applied. At least one of cooling and radiation my be applied by successivly passing a continuous output applicator over the patient'"'"'s skin. Treatment may also be enhanced by applying mechanical, acoustic or electrical stimulation to the region.
486 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method for treating at least a selected target region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting non-targeted tissue comprising:
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(a) cooling the patient'"'"'s skin surface to a temperature below normal body temperature for a selected duration; (b) selectively applying radiation to the patient'"'"'s skin above said region at least one of before, during and after step (a); and (c) repeating at least one of steps (a) and (b) for a selected number of cycles, the temperature to which the patient'"'"'s skin surface is cooled and said duration being sufficient to cool said region to a selected temperature below normal body temperature during at least cooling portions of cycles, wherein said region is at or below the border zone of the dermis and hypodermis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for treating at least a selected target region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting non-targeted tissue comprising:
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(a) cooling the patient'"'"'s skin surface to a temperature below normal body temperature for a selected duration;
wherein step (a) is performed by passing an applicator outputting said cooling over the patient'"'"'s skin overlying said selected region at a selected rate,(b) selectively applying radiation to the patient'"'"'s skin above said region at least one of before, during and after step (a);
wherein step (b) is performed by passing an applicator outputting said radiation over the patient'"'"'s skin overlying said selected region at a selected rate, radiation power is increased by a factor of T v/d over the power required for a stationary applicator, where T is the interval between passes over the same region, v is the rate of movement of the applicator and d is applicator aperature size; and(c) repeating at least one of steps (a) and (b) for a selected number of cycles, the temperature to which the patient'"'"'s skin surface is cooled and said duration being sufficient to cool said region to a selected temperature below normal body temperature during at least cooling portions of cycles, wherein said radiation is from a continuous wave (CW) source and cooling is also performed from a substantially continuously operating source. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. Apparatus for treating at least a selected target region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting non-targeted tissue comprising:
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a mechanism for cooling the patient'"'"'s skin surface to a temperature below normal body temperature for a selected duration; a mechanism for selectively applying radiation to the patient'"'"'s skin above said region at least one of before, during and after the cooling of the patient'"'"'s skin surface; and controls for causing at least one of the mechanism for cooling and the mechanism for applying radiation to be operated for a selected number of cycles, and for controlling the temperature to which the patient'"'"'s skin surface is cooled and said duration to sufficiently cool said region to a selected temperature below normal body temperature during at least cooling portions of cycles, wherein said region is at or below the border zone of the dermis and hypodermis. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. Apparatus for treating at least a selected target region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting non-targeted tissue comprising:
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a mechanism for cooling the patient'"'"'s skin surface to a temperature below normal body temperature for a selected duration; a mechanism for selectively applying radiation to the patient'"'"'s skin above said region at least one of before, during and after the cooling of the patient'"'"'s skin surface, wherein said mechanism for applying radiation includes a continuous wave (CW) source and said mechanism for cooling also operates substantially continuously, an applicator outputting said CW source passing over the patient'"'"'s skin overlying said selected region at a selected rate, and an applicator for said cooling mechanism passing over the patient'"'"'s skin overlying said selected region at a selected rate.; and controls for causing at least one of the mechanism for cooling and the mechanism for applying radiation to be operated for a selected number of cycles, the temperature to which the patient'"'"'s skin surface is cooled and said duration being sufficient to cool said region to a selected temperature below normal body temperature during at least cooling portions of cycles, wherein when the radiation applying mechanism is operated with the applicator being passed over the patient'"'"'s skin, radiation power is increased by a factor of T v/d over the power required for a stationary applicator, where T is the interval between passes over the same region, v is the rate of movement of the applicator and d is applicator aperature size. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. A method for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:
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(a) selectively delivering radiation to the patient'"'"'s body above said selected region to heat said region; (b) concurrently cooling patient tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of the selected region; and (c) cooling said region to a temperature below that of normal body temperature at least one of before and after heating of the region, there being at least one cycle of heating and cooling for said region, wherein said region is at or below the border zone of the dermis and hypodermis. - View Dependent Claims (41)
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42. A method for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body comprising:
cyclically applying radiation and cooling to the surface of the patient'"'"'s skin above the selected region through at least one applicator providing substantially continuous cooling and radiation output, which applicator is passed over the patient'"'"'s skin over the region multiple times for each cooling and radiation cycle, such that said selected region is cooled to a selected temperature below normal body temperature for at least a portion of said application, wherein said region is at or below the border zone of the dermis and hypodermis. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44)
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45. A method for treating at least a selected target region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting non-targeted tissue comprising:
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(a) cooling the patient'"'"'s skin surface to a temperature below normal body temperature for a selected duration; (b) selectively applying radiation to the patient'"'"'s skin above said region after step (a), said radiation being of sufficient power and duration and of appropriate wavelength to heat said region to an appropriate temperature to, in conjunction with step (a), effect said treatment; and (c) repeating at least one of steps (a) and (b) for a selected number of cycles, the temperature to which the patient'"'"'s skin surface is cooled and said duration being sufficient to cool said region to a selected temperature below normal body temperature during at least cooling portions of cycles, wherein said region is at or below the border zone of the dermis and hypodermis.
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46. A method for treating at least a selected target region at depth of a patient'"'"'s body while protecting non-targeted tissue comprising:
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(a) passing an applicator outputting a substantially continuously operating cooling source over the patient'"'"'s skin overlying said selected region at a selected rate to cool the patient'"'"'s skin surface to a temperature below normal body temperature for a selected duration; (b) passing an applicator outputting radiation from a substantially continuous wave radiation source over the patient'"'"'s skin overlying said selected region at a selected rate to selectively applying radiation to said region at least one of before, during and after step (a); and (c) repeating at least one of steps (a) and (b) for a selected number of cycles, the temperature to which the patient'"'"'s skin surface is cooled and said duration being sufficient to cool said region to a selected temperature below normal body temperature during at least cooling portions of cycles, wherein said region is at or below the border zone of the dermis and hypodermis. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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Specification