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US 5,222,953 AGranted
Apparatus for interstitial laser therapy having an improved temperature sensor for tissue being treated
OwnerKambiz Dowlatshahiinventor
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OwnerKambiz Dowlatshahiinventor
Estimating the term…
Improved apparatus for carrying out minimally invasive interstitial laser hyperthermia to induce coagulation necrosis in tissue masses located deeply within the body of a subject. Among examples are malignant tumors in the liver or breast. Low power laser radiation is introduced through an optical fiber extending through a cannula or probe guided into place by medical imaging techniques and inserted directly into the target tissue mass. A thermocouple is secured to the outside of the cannula to sense the temperature of the target tissue irradiated by the laser energy. The thermocouple is located slightly behind the distal end of the cannula and the entire probe assembly is gold plated enabling it to respond primarily to heat transmitted by conduction from the tissue and not by radiation from the laser. In one operating mode described, after the probe is inserted into the tumor, the probe is withdrawn while laser energy is administered at a rate sufficient to maintain the temperature at the thermocouple within a predetermined therapeutic range. In one motorized embodiment, a motor withdraws the cannula at a predetermined speed while the laser is firing, to maintain an effectively high uniform tissue temperature. In another automatic embodiment, the motor speed is controlled in response to the tissue temperature sensed by the thermocouple on the outside of the cannula. This leaves a cylindrical core of necrotic tumor tissue in the wake of the probe as it is drawn through the target tissue.
Apparatus for interstitial laser therapy comprising in combination:
Apparatus for interstitial laser therapy comprising in combination:
In apparatus for interstitial laser therapy including a thin cannula having a lumen for insertion in a tissue mass, said cannula having a lumen extending between proximal and distal end portions and an optical fiber in said lumen for transmitting laser energy into a tissue mass in which the distal end portion of the cannula is inserted, the improvement comprising:
In apparatus for interstitial laser therapy including a thin cannula having a lumen for insertion in a tissue mass, said cannula having a lumen extending between proximal and distal end portions and an optical fiber in said lumen for transmitting laser energy into a tissue mass in which the distal end portion of the cannula is inserted, the improvement comprising:
Apparatus for interstitial laser therapy comprising in combination:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.