Tissue cooling rod for laser surgery
DCFirst Claim
1. A laser system for tissue treatment, comprising:
- A) A hand-held portable battery powered tissue cooling unit comprising;
1) a cooling transmitting element comprised of material transparaent transparent to light at a nominal wavelength and having high thermal conductivity and having a contact surface for contacting a surface of tissue being treated,2) a cryogenic container mounted within or on said cooling unit,3) a cryogen contained in said container,4) a cryogenic cooling chamber for cooling at least one surface of said cooling element, said chamber having an entrance port communicating with said container and an exit port,5) a battery powered cryogenic control means for permitting a flow of vaporizing cryogen from said container into said chamber to cool said at least one surface in order to remove heat from said tissue surface and to produce desired temperature distribution in target tissue being treated, and6) a battery mounted on or within said cooling unit for providing power to said control means, andB) a source of laser light defining a nominal wavelength arranged to transmit said laser light through said cooling transmitting element.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A laser treatment device and process with controlled cooling. The device contains a cooling element with high heat conduction properties, which is transparent to the laser beam. A surface of the cooling element is held in contact with the tissue being treated while at least one other surface of the cooling element is cooled by the evaporation of a cryogenic fluid. The cooling is coordinated with the application of the laser beam so as to control the temperatures of all affected layers of tissues. In a preferred embodiment useful for removal of wrinkles and spider veins, the cooling element is a sapphire plate. A cryogenic spray cools the top surface of the plate and the bottom surface of the plate is in contact with the skin. In preferred embodiments the wavelength of the laser beam is chosen so that absorption in targeted tissue is low enough so that substantial absorption occurs throughout the targeted tissue. In a preferred embodiment for treating large spider veins with diameters in the range of 1.5 mm, Applicants use an Er:Glass laser with a wavelength of 1.54 microns.
151 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A laser system for tissue treatment, comprising:
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A) A hand-held portable battery powered tissue cooling unit comprising; 1) a cooling transmitting element comprised of material transparaent transparent to light at a nominal wavelength and having high thermal conductivity and having a contact surface for contacting a surface of tissue being treated, 2) a cryogenic container mounted within or on said cooling unit, 3) a cryogen contained in said container, 4) a cryogenic cooling chamber for cooling at least one surface of said cooling element, said chamber having an entrance port communicating with said container and an exit port, 5) a battery powered cryogenic control means for permitting a flow of vaporizing cryogen from said container into said chamber to cool said at least one surface in order to remove heat from said tissue surface and to produce desired temperature distribution in target tissue being treated, and 6) a battery mounted on or within said cooling unit for providing power to said control means, and B) a source of laser light defining a nominal wavelength arranged to transmit said laser light through said cooling transmitting element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A process for treating tissue, comprising the steps of:
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A) generating from a source a laser light defining a nominal wavelength, B) transmitting said laser light through a hand-held portable battery operated tissue cooling unit comprising a cooling transmitting element comprised of material transparent to light at said nominal wavelength and having high thermal conductivity and having a contact surface for contacting a surface of tissue being treated, C) inserting cryogen from a cryogenic container, mounted on or within said cooling unit, into a cryogenic cooling chamber for said cooling element, said chamber having an entrance port communicating with said container and an exit port, wherein said inserting permits a flow of vaporizing cryogen from said container into said chamber to cool said cooling element in order to remove heat from the tissue surface and to produce desired temperature distribution in target tissue and wherein the battery is mounted on or within the cooling unit. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A hand-held portable battery powered tissue cooling unit, useful for both cryogenic tissue treatment and for cooling tissue during laser treatment, comprising:
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A) a cooling transmitting element comprised of material transparent to light at a nominal wavelength and having high thermal conductivity and having a contact surface for contacting a surface of tissue being treated, B) a cryogenic container mounted on or within said cooling unit, C) a cryogen contained in said container, D) a cryogenic cooling chamber for cooling at least one surface of said cooling element, said chamber having an entrance port communicating with said container and an exit port, E) a battery powered cryogenic control means for permitting a flow of vaporizing cryogen from said container into said chamber to cool said at least one surface in order to remove heat from said tissue surface and to produce desired temperature distribution in target tissue being treated, and F) a battery mounted on or within said cooling unit providing power to said control means. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of treating skin tissue, comprising:
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generating laser light at a wavelength that in skin tissue is primarily absorbed by water; transmitting the laser light through a transparent material contained in a hand-held unit, placing the hand-held unit in contact with skin tissue; and converting the laser light from a beam to an irradiation pattern such that a portion of the laser light irradiates and damages a first tissue portion, a second portion of the laser light substantially simultaneously irradiates and damages a second tissue portion, and a portion of tissue between the first and second tissue portions is undamaged by the laser light. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of treating wrinkles in skin tissue, comprising:
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generating laser light with an Er;
Glass laser lasing at a wavelength of approximately 1.54 μ
m;transmitting the laser light through a transparent material contained in a hand-held unit; placing the transparent material in contact with the skin tissue; converting the laser light from a beam to an irradiation pattern that irradiates substantially simultaneously and damages a pattern of spots of skin tissue, with undamaged tissue between the spots of damaged tissue; and cooling the transparent material, and placing the cooled transparent material in contact with the skin tissue during irradiation of the skin tissue by the laser light. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48)
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Specification