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AssigneeUrologix, Inc.
InventorsJonathan Achenbach, James E. Burgett, Claude Tihon, Allen Putnam
Estimating the term…
A thermal therapy of body tissue with electromagnetic energy is controlled by feedback from one or more temperature sensors placed in the vicinity of the tissue to be treated. The temperature sensors are calibrated by comparing stabilized temperature values of the one or more temperature sensors against a normal range of body temperature and adjusting sensed temperature to a value within a normal body temperature range if the actual temperature value of a stabilized temperature sensor is less than the normal body temperature range. The temperature adjustment to the temperature sensor is maintained throughout the thermal therapy which reduces the risk of thermal damage to healthy tissue located near the tissue to be treated.
A method of providing a heat therapy to tissue, the method comprising:
In a method of thermal therapy comprising inserting a probe containing an electromagnetic energy emitter into the body to locate the probe adjacent to tissue to be treated with heat, inserting a temperature sensor into the body to monitor temperature of tissue distant from the tissue to be treated, activating the electromagnetic energy emitter to heat the tissue to be treated for a time effective to necrose the tissue to be treated and adjusting the electromagnetic energy emitter if the temperature sensor exceeds a predetermined value, the improvement comprising:
A method of providing a heat therapy to tissue in the human body comprising inserting into the body a probe having an electromagnetic energy emitter, locating the probe adjacent to tissue to be treated with heat, inserting a temperature sensor into the body adjacent to the tissue to be treated, calibrating the temperature sensor following the inserting step by determining when temperature readings from the temperature sensor have stabilized, comparing the stabilized temperature reading from the temperature sensor with a normal range of body temperature, assigning the temperature sensor with a temperature value in the normal range of body temperature if the stabilized temperature reading is less than the temperature value in the normal range of body temperature, and controlling the heat therapy provided to tissue at least in part by the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor with the calibration adjustment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.