Back to results
US 8,476,242 B2Granted
Pre-conditioning/fixation for disease treatment heat activation/release with thermo-activated drugs and gene products
AssigneeMedifocus, Inc.
InventorJohn Mon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of treating cancer by introducing heat into cancerous tissue and delivering a liposome containing an active agent or a thermo-activated drug, gene or virus to said tissue. The heat delivered is sufficient to release the active agent or activate the thermo-activated drug, gene or virus. The cancer can be esophageal cancer. The liposome containing an active agent or a thermo-activated drug, gene or virus can be a thermosensitive liposome. The active agent can be an anti-neoplastic agent, for example doxorubicin.
Claims26
A method of treating cancer comprising:
- inserting into a cancerous tissue a distal end portion of a catheter defining a lumen, the catheter comprising a distal tip adapted to penetrate tissue, at least one catheter port located at the distal tip, and a plurality of probes disposed within the lumen, each of the plurality of probes comprising a distal tip adapted to penetrate tissue;
- extending at least two of the plurality of probes such that a portion of each of the at least two probes is disposed outside the lumen extending into the cancerous tissue, at least one of the at least two probes is individually extended into the cancerous tissue;
- delivering a liposome containing an active agent or a thermo-activated drug, gene or virus to the cancerous tissue via the catheter port;
- and
- individually energizing at least one of the at least two probes extended into the cancerous tissue such that the at least two probes:
- introduce heat to an outer zone of tissue, the outer zone of tissue including a margin of the cancerous tissue, the heat introduced to the outer zone of tissue sufficient to release the active agent or activate the thermo-activated drug, gene or virus, the heat introduced to the outer zone of tissue causing a temperature of the outer zone of tissue to be no greater than about 45° C.;
- and
- introduce heat to an inner zone of tissue, the inner zone of tissue disposed between the outer zone of tissue and the plurality of probes, the inner zone of tissue being comprised of the cancerous tissue, the heat introduced to the inner zone of tissue sufficient to thermally ablate at least a portion of the cancerous tissue of the inner zone of tissue, the heat introduced to the inner zone of tissue causing a temperature of the cancerous tissue of the inner zone of tissue to be at least about 50° C.
5 more elements
A method of treating cancer comprising:
- delivering a liposome containing an active agent or a thermo-activated drug, gene or virus into a target treatment area including a cancerous tissue via a catheter defining a lumen, the catheter comprising a distal tip adapted to penetrate tissue, at least one catheter port located at the distal tip, and a plurality of probes disposed within the lumen, each of the plurality of probes comprising a distal tip adapted to penetrate tissue, the liposome being delivered into the target treatment area via the catheter port;
- determining the size of the target treatment area including the cancerous tissue, the determining including 1) extending at least two probes outside of the lumen into the target treatment area, at least one of the at least two probes is individually extended, and 2) heating the target treatment area, prior to the delivering, via individually energizing at least one of the at least two probes to a temperature sufficient to release the active agent or activate the thermo-activated drug, gene or virus, and
- increasing the temperature of the target treatment area via individually energizing at least one of the at least two probes, after the delivering, over a period of time such that a portion of the cancerous tissue a first distance from the probes reaches a predetermined temperature subsequent a portion of the cancerous tissue a second distance from the probes.
A method of treating cancer comprising:
- inserting a distal end portion of a catheter into a cancerous tissue, the distal end of the catheter comprising a distal tip adapted to penetrate tissue and a first conduit located at the distal tip, the catheter defining a second conduit comprising a plurality of probes, each of the plurality of probes comprising a distal tip adapted to penetrate tissue;
- delivering a liposome containing an active agent or a thermo-activated drug, gene or virus into the cancerous tissue via the first conduit defined by the distal tip of the catheter;
- heating a first treatment zone of the cancerous tissue to a temperature sufficient to release the active agent or activate the thermo-activated drug, gene or virus by introducing energy to the cancerous tissue via a first probe individually extended at least partially outside of the second conduit into the cancerous tissue;
- heating a second treatment zone of the cancerous tissue to a temperature sufficient to thermally ablate the cancerous tissue of the second treatment zone by introducing energy to the cancerous tissue via a second probe individually extended at least partially outside of the second conduit into the cancerous tissue, the second treatment zone different than the first treatment zone;
- and
- monitoring a temperature at each of the first treatment zone and the second treatment zone of the cancerous tissue via temperature readings from a third conduit defined by the catheter.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.