EP0538241A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Ultrasonic apparatus for therapeutical use
Assignee: Hitachi Ltd
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Filing: 1989-06-30
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2009-06-30
Abstract
Abstract An ultrasonic apparatus for thereapeutical use, especially for remedying a malignant tumor, activates a drug at a desired local portion inside of a living body by sequentially irradiating a plurality kinds of convergent ultrasonic waves having different focal positions of different acoustic pressure distribution shapes but having a mutually overlapping focal zone and by switching them within a short period. The drug is activated as a promotor for an ultrasonic therapeutical effect through continuous generation and rupture of cavitation caused by the irradiated and switched ultrasonic waves.
Inventors
- 👤 Shinichiro Umemura
- 👤 Nagahiko Yumita
- 👤 Koshiro Umemura
- 👤 Kageyoshi Katakura
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 23:11
CPC Classifications
A; A61; A61M; A61M37/00; A61M37/0092; A61N; A61N7/00; A61N7/02; A61B; A61B17/00; A61B17/22; A61B17/22004; A61B2017/22005; A61B2017/22007; A61B2017/22008; A61B2017/22027; A61B2017/22028; A61B2017/22082; A61B2017/22088; A61N2007/0056; A61N2007/006; A61N2007/0078; A61N2007/0086; A61N2007/0095; A61N2007/027; G; G01; G01S; G01S15/00; G01S15/88; G01S15/89; G01S15/8906; G01S15/899
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
61 words
An ultrasonic apparatus for therapeutical use including means for radiating into a living body from its surface a plurality of kinds of convergent ultrasonic waves having different focal positions of different acoustic pressure distribution shapes but having a mutually overlapping focal zone, while switching them within a short period, in order to activate locally a drug injected into the living body.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the duration time of irradiation by one kind of convergent ultrasonic wave is longer than 0.01 msec but shorter than 10 msec.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
An ultrasonic apparatus for therapeutical use including means for interruptedly radiating a converged ultrasonic wave to a desired portion inside a living body from its surface, in order to activate locally the anti-tumour effect of a photosensitising material or a material having a chelate forming function injected into the living body.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
23 words
The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the duration time of said ultrasonic wave is longer than 0.01 msec but shorter than 10 msec.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
63 words
The apparatus of claim 3, which further includes ultrasonic wave echo imaging means and means for superposing a two- or three-dimensional echo image of the object of irradiation, an irradiation energy distribution diagram of a single or a plurality of kinds of therapeutical acoustic fields and the positions of the detected cavitation at the corresponding positions, and displaying them in mutually different colours.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
24 words
The apparatus of claim 3, which includes a transducer consisting of a piezoelectric ceramics and an acoustic matching layer made of a light metal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
50 words
The apparatus of claim 6, which includes an acoustic matching layer whose surface on the ultrasonic wave irradiation side is a concave forming part of a spherical surface or a cylindrical surface, and a piezoelectric ceramic element bonded to a polished plane on the back of said acoustic matching layer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
78 words
An ultrasonic apparatus for therapeutical use comprising: means for inputting information on the dose of a drug exhibiting an anti-tumour effect in a living body by irradiation with an ultrasonic wave; means for calculating drug concentrations at the object region of therapy and each portion around said object region receiving the irradiation energy of the ultrasonic wave as a function of time on the basis of said information; and means for displaying each of said concentrations thus calculated.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
54 words
The apparatus of claim 8, which includes means for receiving from a keyboard information on the drug name, the dose time, the dosage, the dosing method, the name, weight, height, age and blood protein concentration of a patient, the name of organ of the object region and its portion, and the kind of tumour.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
The apparatus of claim 9, which includes means for measuring the drip dosage of the drug on a real time basis and means for calculating the drug concentration on the real time basis.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 10, which includes means for pressure-feeding a drip drug and means for controlling the pressure-fed quantity in accordance with the drug concentration thus calculated.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
35 words
The apparatus of claim 11, which includes means for measuring the total blood flow rate or local blood flow rate of the patient and means for calculating the drug concentration on a real time basis.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
30 words
A promoter for an ultrasonic therapeutical effect consisting primarily of a photosensitising drug or its derivatives exhibiting an anti-tumour activity inside a living body by irradiation with an ultrasonic wave.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
28 words
The promoter of claim 13, wherein said photosensitising drug is a chelate forming compound or its derivatives, or a porphyrin compound, or an alkylating agent or its derivatives.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
31 words
A promoter for an ultrasonic therapeutical effect consisting primarily of an ascorbic acid salt or its derivatives exhibiting an anti-tumour effect inside a living body by irradiation with an ultrasonic wave.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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