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US 11,305,133 B2Granted
Efficient acoustic energy transfer through skull via excitation of Lamb waves
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsButrus T. Khuri-Yakub, Kamyar Firouzi
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Abstract
We provide a novel technique for coupling focused ultrasound into the brain. The ultrasound beam can be used for therapy or neuro-modulation. We excite a selected Lamb wave mode in the skull that mode converts into longitudinal waves in the brain. The benefits of our approach is in improved efficiency, reduction in heating of the skull, and the ability to address regions in the brain that are close or far from the skull.
Claims7
Apparatus for providing acoustic energy to a brain of a patient, the apparatus comprising:
- an acoustic transducer configured to excite a selected Lamb wave mode in a skull of the patient via phase matching to the selected Lamb wave mode;
- wherein the selected Lamb wave mode excites a longitudinal acoustic wave in the brain;
- wherein the acoustic transducer comprises a heating element configured to deliver thermal energy to the skull of the patient, and wherein thermal expansion of the skull of the patient excites the selected Lamb wave mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.