Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080213904 | Monitoring drug compliance, food-intake or toxin-intake using non-invasively-read labels - A system is disclosed for monitoring a property of an ingested or in-taken drug, food, drink or toxic substance, non-invasively or minimally invasively, which can also identify the subject person being monitored, if desired. The system comprises: a means of labeling the substance with a labeling media to have a useful signature indicative of, or bearing a relation to the property; a means to allow the signature to be read non-invasively or minimally invasively; and a means to identify, in any manner, who is being monitored. | 09-04-2008 |
20080298962 | Method and apparatus for reducing bird and fish injuries and deaths at wind and water-turbine power-generation sites - A simple system is provided to dramatically reduce the number of bird fatalities and injuries, as these are bird-kills that man should be able to do something about. Essentially, the inventive apparatus comprises one or more instantaneously inflatable mini-airbags on turbine blade leading edges which, in the “stowed position” are tightly conformally elastically wrapped around or juxtaposed to the turbine blade surface(s) and/or edges(s) thereby not affecting the blade's aerodynamic efficiency. The airbag(s) can be activated and restowed or recollapsed very rapidly, thereby not significantly negatively impacting the operational efficiency of the wind machine. In a similar manner, fish-kills or injuries taking place in the turbine impellers of hydroelectric power-generator facilities may be avoided (as opposed to ameliorated) using another inventive system and method taught herein, this one being primarily a collision avoidance system which does not require the problematic alteration of the turbine blades themselves. | 12-04-2008 |
20090266290 | Buoyant-capable beverage and food content-sensor - A buoyant-capable sensor system device is disclosed for use alone or on an apparatus such as a straw, stirrer, mixer, stick or utensil which detects the presence or absence of one or more substances in a beverage or liquid food such as soup comprising a sensing element(s) which is either in direct or indirect contact with the beverage or food and a buoyant sensor body to assure user-visibility of the sensing element(s). | 10-29-2009 |
20100168568 | Combined Diagnostic and Therapeutic Device Using Aligned Energy Beams - A device for both providing therapy to a tissue and detecting a characteristic of said tissue is provided. The device includes a deformable tubular body such as a catheter or scope. An electrode is supported by the body and configured to deliver therapeutic energy to the tissue along a first path. The electrode may, for example, be used in cardiac ablation and the therapeutic energy may comprise any common ablation energy modality including radio waves or ultrasound waves. The device further includes an acoustic transducer supported by the body and configured to receive acoustic energy along a second path. The transducer may also transmit acoustic energy. The first and second paths are aligned and may be parallel or overlap, for example. The physical relationship of the electrode and transducer and the alignment of the energy paths eliminates the need to register the spatial coordinates of the therapeutic and diagnostic elements. | 07-01-2010 |
20100168569 | IMAGE-GUIDED ABLATION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING AN ABLATION PROCEDURE - An ablation system comprises a tool including an shaft having proximal and distal end portions, a handle at the proximal end portion, and a lumen extending between the proximal and distal end portions. The system further includes an ablation subsystem comprised of an ablation element at the distal end portion of the shaft, and an ablation source connected to the ablation element. The system further includes an imaging subsystem comprising an ultrasound imaging transducer disposed proximate the ablation element. The transducer is pivotally attached to the shaft or the ablation element to allow the transducer to articulate between stowed and deployed positions. The imaging subsystem further comprises a processor connected to the transducer configured to receive image data acquired by the transducer, and to generate an image corresponding thereto. The imaging subsystem still further includes a display connected to the processor configured to display the generated image. | 07-01-2010 |
20100168570 | Methods and Apparatus for Utilizing Impeller-Based Rotationally-Scanning Catheters - An ablation catheter includes a tubular catheter body having a lumen, a tip portion, a liquid inlet, at least one liquid outlet, a liquid flow path defined between the liquid inlet and the liquid outlet, and an ablation element mounted on the tip portion of the catheter body. A rotationally-scanning ultrasound assembly is disposed within the lumen of the catheter body adjacent the tip portion. The ultrasound assembly includes an ultrasound transducer having an active face, an acoustic mirror acoustically coupled to the active face of the ultrasound transducer, and an impeller positioned in the liquid flow path and operably coupled to at least one of the ultrasound transducer and the acoustic mirror to impart rotational motion thereto when a liquid flows through the impeller. | 07-01-2010 |
20100168572 | Apparatus and Methods for Acoustic Monitoring of Ablation Procedures - A system for ablating tissue includes a catheter having an elongate body, with at least one ablation element (e.g., RF electrode) and at least one acoustic transducer located within the body's tip region. The transducer receives acoustic signals from proximate the tip region. The system also includes a monitoring unit coupled to the transducer to interpret the received acoustic signals as data regarding at least one therapeutic parameter (e.g., pre-pop detection, lesion making progress, tissue interface detection, tissue contact force, tissue contact establishment, bubble spatial distribution, bubble depth, bubble size, bubble size distribution, tissue interface distance, tissue interface position, tissue attenuation, tissue thickness, lesion spectral fingerprint). The monitoring unit is operable to provide feedback to a practitioner, such as graphical, audible, and/or haptic output of sensed data, and may also be operable to control operation of the at least one ablation element in response thereto. | 07-01-2010 |
20100168620 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MEASURING FORCE AND TORQUE APPLIED TO A CATHETER ELECTRODE TIP - A contact sensing assembly including a catheter including an electrode having a base portion mounted adjacent a head portion of the catheter body. A sensor is disposed adjacent the base portion for measuring compression or tensile forces applied to an electrode tip portion, and includes a predetermined sensitivity. The base and head portions include predetermined rigidity so that forces applied to the electrode tip portion are determinable as a function of the sensitivity and a sensor output. A contact sensing assembly also includes an electrode pipe operatively connected to the catheter body for movement and bending with the catheter body, and an electrode wire disposed in the electrode pipe and including isolation. A change in capacitance resulting from movement of the electrode wire toward the electrode pipe or contact of the electrode wire with the electrode pipe during bending of the catheter correlates to a force applied to the catheter. | 07-01-2010 |
20100168624 | ABLATION SYSTEM WITH BLOOD LEAKAGE MINIMIZATION AND TISSUE PROTECTIVE CAPABILITIES - An ablation system is provided that includes an ablating device and a probe. The probe is configured to be positioned in close proximity to a region of non-targeted tissue proximate an ablation site of targeted tissue. The probe includes an elongate shaft having proximal and distal ends, with a handle disposed at the proximal end thereof and a tissue protecting apparatus disposed at the distal end thereof. The ablating device includes an elongate shaft having proximal and distal ends, with a handle mounted at the proximal end thereof and an ablation element mounted at the distal end thereof. The ablation element includes an ultrasound transducer and an inflatable balloon surrounding the ultrasound transducer. The balloon includes a layer of gel disposed on its outer surface. | 07-01-2010 |
20100228162 | Apparatus and Method for Tissue Ablation with Near-Field Cooling - A tissue ablation system facilitates lesioning deep tissue while preventing damage to superficial tissue and includes a probe having a distal end portion, at least one transducer carried on the distal end portion, and at least one acoustically transparent heat removal element thermally coupled to a target tissue within the beam path of the transducer. The transducer delivers acoustic energy to the tissue through the heat removal element in order to ablate the tissue; the heat removal element removes sufficient thermal energy from the tissue volume to prevent thermal necrosis in superficial tissue. The heat removal element may be a heat sink or a convective element. An optional temperature sensor provides advisory data to a practitioner and/or is coupled to a feedback control system operable to control delivery of acoustic energy to the tissue and/or a rate of thermal energy removal therefrom. | 09-09-2010 |
20100233021 | Systems and methods to deal with health-relevant fouling or plugging depositions and growths - Disclosed are methods of inhibiting, avoiding or destroying existing, potential or incipient biodeposits, biofilms or pathogens any of (a) in or on a living body including in or on a medical device or implement placed, inserted or insertable in the body, (b) in, on or in contact with an ex vivo bodily tissue or fluid, or (c) in, on or in contact with a medium or matter to be consumed, ingested by or exposed to a living being or entity. Also disclosed are medical devices, implements, and prostheses that can be kept in a safe defouled, pathogen-free or pathogen-reduced condition with the help of an electric field(s). Also disclosed are medical or industrial devices, implements, equipment-articles and storage/handling-entities that can be kept in a safely defouled, pathogen-free or pathogen-reduced condition with the help of a membrane or orifice that has one or more of the antifouling or antipathogenic attributes. | 09-16-2010 |
20100321478 | Microdroplet-based 3-D volumetric displays utilizing emitted and moving droplet projection screens - Volumetric three-dimensional (3-D) graphical or computer displays are disclosed herein that are capable of presenting objects, data, scenes or other visual information in a realistic or solid-like manner, allowing for an unaided observer to observe such static or moving objects from multiple perspectives with natural depth-cues and superior image quality. We utilize in this refined approach moving-screens formed from particulate-arrays and we preferably optically project multiple image sub-slices on each such flying-screen as it passes through the image-volume thereby minimizing particulate mass-flow since only once screen per image-volume is needed to present the several or many necessary slices of each volumetric frame. | 12-23-2010 |
20110028848 | Methods and Apparatus for Detecting and Mapping Tissue Interfaces - A device for measuring a spatial location of a tissue surface, such as the interface between different types of tissues or between tissue and body fluids, generally includes an elongate catheter body having a distal end portion, a plurality of localization elements carried by the distal end portion, and at least one pulse-echo acoustic element carried by the distal end portion. The localization elements allow the catheter to be localized (e.g., position and/or orientation) within a localization field, while the acoustic element allows for the detection of tissue surfaces where incoming acoustic energy will reflect towards the acoustic element. A suitable controller can determine the location of the detected tissue surface from the localization of the distal end portion of the catheter body. Tissue thicknesses can be derived from the detected locations of multiple (e.g., near and far) tissue surfaces. Maps and models of tissue thickness can also be generated. | 02-03-2011 |
20110144491 | SELF-AIMING DIRECTABLE ACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER ASSEMBLY FOR INVASIVE MEDICAL DEVICE APPLICATIONS - A directable acoustic transducer assembly is presented for use in a medical insertion device (MID). In an embodiment, the assembly aims an acoustic signal in response to a sensed or detected force or load imposed on the MID. The directable acoustic transducer assembly includes a switch array and a plurality of directional acoustic transducer elements. The switch array responds to the force or load and activates the directional acoustic transducer elements closest to the source of the force or load. The switch array may include a plurality of switches, at least one of which responses to a force or load and may activate directional acoustic transducer elements having a target tissue in the field of view. The assembly includes embodiments that are responsive to various loads. A directable acoustic transducer assembly may be part of a diagnostic and/or therapeutic system, such as an RF ablation system. | 06-16-2011 |
20120172843 | DEVICE HAVING AN ELECTROFORMED PLEATED REGION AND METHOD OF ITS MANUFACTURE - A deflectable, flexible device includes an elongate body, a convoluted tip portion at a distal end of the elongate body, and a lumen to receive one or more wires. The convoluted tip portion includes an electroformed pleated region which is formed by electrodepositing a metal on a mandrel having a pleated region. The convoluted tip portion may be hermetically sealed to permit repeated sterilization. The electroformed pleated region may include one or more fluid emission orifices. The convoluted tip portion extends or bends in response to fluid pressure manipulation, contact with tissue, manipulation with an internal spring or wire, or by a user pushing, pulling, or twisting the catheter directly or via an introducer sheath or the like. The convoluted tip portion may further include an RF ablation element or other energy-driven technique to create continuous linear lesions or a sensing element. | 07-05-2012 |
20130046320 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COOLING AND MOVING ABLATION ELEMENTS - A medical device comprising a cell including an ablation element and a carrier configured to receive at least a portion of said ablation element is disclosed. The medical device further comprises a tube enclosing the cell. At least a portion of the tube includes a membrane and the tube includes at least one hole proximate the ablation element for facilitating fluid flow. The medical device further comprises a fluid inlet for providing fluid to the interior of the tube. A method of using the medical device is also disclosed. | 02-21-2013 |
20140081258 | Template system and methods - Template systems and methods for various procedures (e.g., tissue ablation procedures) are disclosed. An exemplary template system comprises a track having at least one suction port. The at least one suction port anchors the track to a tissue after the track is positioned adjacent a target area. The template system may further comprise a transducer operatively associated with the track. Exemplary transducers include imaging transducers and ablating transducers. The transducer is guided by the track adjacent the target area while the transducer is moved along the track for a procedure. One or more umbilical may provide a conduit to the track and/or transducer so that the template system may be positioned in a patient's body (e.g., for a procedure on the patient's heart) and operated remotely by a physician or other user from outside of the patient's body. | 03-20-2014 |
20140276692 | Pressure Sensing of Irrigant Backpressure for Aligning Directional Medical Devices with Target Tissue - The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for aligning directionally operable medical devices with and upon target tissue. In particular, the instant disclosure relates to systems and methods for aligning medical devices such as directional ablation catheters to and upon target tissue by monitoring irrigant backpressure. | 09-18-2014 |
20150073245 | System and method for measuring force and torque applied to a catheter electrode tip - A contact sensing assembly including a catheter including an electrode having a base portion mounted adjacent a head portion of the catheter body. A sensor is disposed adjacent the base portion for measuring compression or tensile forces applied to an electrode tip portion, and includes a predetermined sensitivity. The base and head portions include predetermined rigidity so that forces applied to the electrode tip portion are determinable as a function of the sensitivity and a sensor output. A contact sensing assembly also includes an electrode pipe operatively connected to the catheter body for movement and bending with the catheter body, and an electrode wire disposed in the electrode pipe and including isolation. A change in capacitance resulting from movement of the electrode wire toward the electrode pipe or contact of the electrode wire with the electrode pipe during bending of the catheter correlates to a force applied to the catheter. | 03-12-2015 |