Method for the treatment of mammalian tissues

• US 7,914,523 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2005
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: 9127-4910 Quebec Inc.
• Original Assignee: Clinique Dr. Daniel Barolet, Inc.
• Inventors: Boucher, Annie, Barolet, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, III; Henry M
• Assistant Examiner(s): CRANDALL, LYNSEY P
• Application Number:
  US11/053,603
• Publication Number:
  US 20050197681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,241 Days
• Field of Search: 128/898, 606/9, 607 88- 94
• US Class Current: 606/9
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/203 applying laser energy to the outside of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00452 Skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0642 Irradiating part of the body at a certain distance
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0643 Applicators, probes irradiating specific body areas in close proximity
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0652 Arrays of diodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/0616 Skin treatment other than tanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/062 Photodynamic therapy, i.e. excitation of an agent

Abstract

A method and device for causing a predetermined physiological change in a mammalian tissue. The method includes irradiating the tissue with a radiation having a power density in the tissue substantially larger than an activation threshold power density, the tissue being irradiated under conditions suitable to cause the predetermined physiological change. The device can emit radiation and forms to the anatomy of a patient. The device can both cool the patient and treatment head using one cooling system.

Claims

1. A method of non-ablative, non-thermal photoactivation of procollagen or photoinhibition of collagenase in the dermis of mammalian skin, comprising the steps of:

setting an overheating temperature for the mammalian skin to be one of about 2°

C., about 0.5°

C., and about 0.1°

C. over a mammalian skin temperature;

irradiating the dermis with a first pulse having a power density of at least about 10 mW/cm² and at most about 1000 mW/cm²;

irradiating the dermis with a second pulse;

emitting the first pulse for a duration of about 100 μ

s to 5 ms;

separating the first pulse from the second pulse by an inter-pulse interval of about 10 μ

s to about 10 ms;

emitting a first pulse train; and

separating the first pulse train from a second pulse train by an inter-pulse train interval of about 1 microsecond to about 1 second,

wherein each pulse train includes the first pulse and the second pulse, and

wherein the inter-pulse train interval is greater than the inter-pulse interval;

whereby irradiating the dermis with the pulse trains causes the photoactivation of procollagen or photoinhibition of collagenase in said dermis of said mammalian skin; and

whereby irradiating the dermis maintains the mammalian skin temperature at or below the overheating temperature.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the first pulse has a wavelength of about 400 nanometers to about 1500 nanometers.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the power density is from about 30 mW/cm² to about 100 mW/cm².

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the power density is one of about 10 mW/cm², and about 50 mW/cm².

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the inter-pulse interval is of about 100 microseconds to about 0.5 milliseconds.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the duration is of about 250 microseconds to about 1 millisecond.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of emitting the first pulse for about 250 microseconds to about 1 millisecond and the inter-pulse interval is from about 100 microseconds to about 0.5 millisecond.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first pulse is emitted by at least one light emitting diode (LED).

9. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the photoactivation includes at least one of stimulating collagen production by fibroblasts contained within the skin tissue, substantially reversing at least in part skin damages caused by aging, reversing at least in part damages caused to an extracellular matrix of the skin by aging, and modulating an apoptosis response of the skin tissue.

10. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein a ratio of the duration divided by the inter-pulse interval is one of about 0.1 to about 10 and about 0.5 to about 2.

11. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein a power density of radiation within the tissue during the inter-pulse interval is below one of about 10 percent and about 1 percent of the power density.

12. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising a minimal power density of the radiation within the tissue during each pulse is one of about two times, about ten times, about 100 times, and about 10,000 times as large as a maximal power density of the radiation within the tissue during the inter-pulse interval.

13. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

establishing a thermal threshold power density over which the temperature of the irradiated tissue increases to a temperature greater than the overheating temperature;

determining a temperature of the irradiated tissue; and

irradiating the tissue with the first pulse having a power density below the thermal threshold power density.

14. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein the thermal threshold power density is one of about 10 mW/cm², about 100 mW/cm², and about 1 W/cm².

15. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein the overheating temperature is based on a maximal non-pathological in-vivo temperature of the mammalian skin.

16. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the inter-pulse train interval is one of 100 microsecond to about 1 second, about 750 microseconds to about 500 milliseconds, and about 100 microseconds to about 2.25 milliseconds.

17. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein a ratio of the inter-pulse train interval to the inter-pulse interval is about 2 to about 10.

18. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the ratio of the inter-pulse train interval to the inter-pulse interval is about 3.

19. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein a number of pulses within each pulse train is one of 2 to 100 pulses, 4 to 10 pulses, and 3 to 10 pulses.

20. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of preventing a temperature increase in the tissue above the overheating temperature at which a cascade of events triggered by the radiation are substantially reversed.

21. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a thermal relaxation phase including a step of allowing cells of the tissue to dissipate heat so as to remain substantially below the overheating temperature.

22. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of preventing a temperature increase by a thermal inertia of the tissue.

23. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of cooling the tissue.

24. The method as defined in claim 23, wherein the cooling step includes cooling the tissue by active convective cooling.

25. The method as defined in claim 23, wherein cooling the tissue includes delivering to the tissue a vasodilator in an amount effective to cause a vasodilatation within the tissue.

26. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein a power density temporal profile remains below a thermal threshold above which a temperature within the tissue is likely to increase above the overheating temperature.