System for defining energy field characteristics to illuminate nano-particles used to treat invasive agents

• US 8,757,166 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2011
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Endomagnetics Ltd. (Hologic Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Actium Biosystems, LLC
• Inventors: McKenna, Daniel Bernard, Frantz, Karl Michael, Huisjen, Martin Albert, Updegrave, Andrew Curtis
• Primary Examiner(s): Matthews, Christine
• Assistant Examiner(s): LANNU, JOSHUA DARYL DEANON
• Application Number:
  US13/012,560
• Publication Number:
  US 20120190910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• Field of Search: 600/1, 600/2, 600/9, 600/10, 128897-899
• US Class Current: 128/899
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 41/0052 Thermotherapy; Hyperthermia; Magnetic induction; Induction heating therapy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/325 for iontophoresis, i.e. transfer of media in ionic state by an electromotoric force into the body electrodes for external use A61N1/0428
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/406 using implantable thermoseeds or injected particles for localized hyperthermia preparations of seeds and particles A61K41/0052
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2/002 in combination with another treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2/004 specially adapted for a specific therapy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2/02 using magnetic fields produced by coils, including single turn loops or electromagnets A61N2/12 takes precedence

Abstract

The Invasive Agent Treatment System incorporates the pairing of energy fields with nano-particles to cause a thermal effect in the nano-particles, which thermal effect is transmitted into the biological cells of the invasive agent. The energy fields are derived from at least one or a combination of the following: an electric field, a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field (EM), an acoustic field, and an optical field. The Invasive Agent Treatment System provides the necessary coordination among the characteristics of the nano-particles, concentration of nano-particles, duration of treatment, and applied fields to enable the generation of precisely crafted fields and their application in a mode and manner to be effective with a high degree of accuracy.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields which are used in activating target particles, which are inserted into a living organism in a manner to associate with invasive agents, to destroy invasive agents in the living organism, comprising:

maintaining, in a computerized target particle database, a listing of characteristics of at least one type of target particles;

storing, in a computerized invasive agent database, data that defines sets of energy field characteristics from the characteristics of energy fields including, but not limited to, at least one of;

field type, frequency, field strength, duration, field modulation, repetition frequency, polarization, beam size, and focal point, each set defining the energy field characteristics necessary to energize the at least one type of said target particles in a predetermined manner in a portion of the living organism to destroy the invasive agent;

automatically selecting, using user provided identification of the at least one type of said target particles and a portion of the living organism which contains an invasive agent, a set of energy field characteristics as stored in the computerized invasive agent database, necessary to energize the identified type of target particles in a predetermined manner in the portion of the living organism to destroy the invasive agent; and

generating an energy field having said automatically selected energy field characteristics for application to said portion of said living organism to activate said target particles located in the living organism to destroy invasive agents in the target living organism.

2. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 1 wherein said step of automatically selecting differentially heats said portion of said target living organism by selecting a frequency of said energy field which energizes the identified type of target particles to a temperature that is greater than the temperature of living tissue which surrounds said portion of the living organism which contains the invasive agent.

3. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 2 wherein said step of automatically selecting linearly decreases the field strength of an E-Field as the frequency of the E-Field increases to deliver a substantially constant power to the identified target particles.

4. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 3 wherein said step of automatically selecting selects an E-Field strength where the power absorbed at the identified target particles is a function of the E-Field strength squared.

5. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 2 wherein said identified type of target particles have a relative permittivity which is a complex value, having both real and imaginary portions, where the imaginary portion of the permittivity changes with frequency and determines a loss a given material has in an E-Field, said step of automatically selecting adjusts the E-Field strength as a function of frequency.

6. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 2 wherein said identified type of target particles have a permittivity and polarity which are temperature dependent, and said step of automatically selecting dynamically changes the E-Field strength during the heating of the identified type of target particles.

7. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 2 wherein said step of automatically selecting selects an energy field strength as a function of target particle radius cubed for E-Fields and target particle radius to the fifth power for H-Fields.

8. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 1 wherein said identified type of target particles are made of material types responsive to both magnetic and electric fields, and said step of automatically selecting illuminates the target particles with a magnetic field and an electric field.

9. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 1 wherein said step of automatically selecting linearly decreases the field strength of an E-Field as the frequency of the E-Field increases to realize a substantially constant power absorbed by the identified type of target particles.

10. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 9 wherein said step of automatically selecting is selects an E-Field strength where the power absorbed by the identified type of target particles is a function of the E-Field strength squared.

11. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 9 wherein said identified type of target particles have a relative permittivity which is a complex value, having both real and imaginary portions, where the imaginary portion of the permittivity changes with frequency and determines a loss a given material has in an E-Field, and said step of automatically selecting dynamically adjusting adjusts the E-Field strength as a function of frequency.

12. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 9 wherein said identified type of target particles have a permittivity and polarity which are temperature dependent, and said step of automatically selecting dynamically changes the E-Field strength during heating of the identified type of target particles due to the application of the generated energy field.

13. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 9 wherein said step of automatically selecting selects an energy field strength as a function of target particle radius cubed for E-Fields and target particle radius to the fifth power for H-Fields.

14. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a target particle location database for storing data indicative of a presence and locus of target particles which are located in a living organism.

15. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining destruction databases for storing data relevant to destruction of invasive agents, comprising at least one of;

a target particle location database for storing data indicative of a presence and locus of target particles which are located in a living organism,

a patient data database for maintaining living organism-specific data which provides data regarding at least one of;

age, sex, weight, prior surgeries, or other conditions relevant to destruction of invasive agents,

an empirical and analytical data database for maintaining information, which has been collected via at least one of;

modeling, testing, theoretical computations, and past experiences, relating to destruction of invasive agents in a living organism,

a reflection characteristics database for maintaining data which represents a percentage of an incident signal which is reflected at an interface between two materials,

a penetration depth database for maintaining data which represents an attenuation of an incident signal as it passes through a selected material, and

a living organism characterization database for storing data which defines a three-dimensional physical composition of at least one characteristic of a living organism selected from the set of characteristics comprising;

material, shape, size, density, and surface treatment.

16. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 15 wherein said step of automatically selecting comprises:

determining, in response to said data stored in said destruction databases, characteristics of an energy field, incident on said identified type of target particles, required to activate said identified type of target particles located in the living organism to respond in a predetermined detectable manner to destroy invasive agents in the living organism by raising the temperature of the invasive agent due to the application of the generated energy field to the identified type of target particles.

17. The method for dynamically defining characteristics of generated energy fields of claim 16 wherein said step of automatically selecting comprises:

correlating said determined characteristics of an energy field with empirical and analytical data maintained in said empirical and analytical data database to generate refined determined characteristics.