Surgery: light – thermal – and electrical application – Light – thermal – and electrical application – Thermal applicators
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-25
2001-11-13
Dvorak, Linda C. M. (Department: 3739)
Surgery: light, thermal, and electrical application
Light, thermal, and electrical application
Thermal applicators
C607S091000, C607S108000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06317636
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an infrared ray irradiation apparatus and infrared ray irradiation source used therein, and more specifically to an infrared ray irradiation apparatus and infrared ray irradiation source used therein for treating diseases, particularly malignant tumors, viral diseases by irradiating with far-infrared rays and raising the intracorporeal temperature.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto for malignant tumors such a s cancers, sarcoma, etc., treatments including abscission by operations, irradiation of radioactive ray, administration of drugs, etc. have been given, but tumors which have metastasized are difficult to treat. Even those at the initial stages, operations and other methods may cause excessively large burdens to the human body, lower the immunological competence, and have problems of recurrence of tumors, occurrence of other diseases, etc. Viral diseases are unable to be treated unless suitable vaccine is present, and such is the state of things that there is no effective treatment when people are infected with AIDS virus, etc.
Because in recent years, it has been found that malignant tumors and viruses die out or are inactivated when heated to temperatures exceeding 41° C., hyperthermia has attracted keen attention, and treatments for immersing patients in warm water or methods for irradiating with infused rays have been developed, and infrared ray irradiation apparatus have begun to be fabricated.
However, since the treatment by immersing patients in warm water is achieved by thermal conduction from the human body surface, long time is required for heating the inside of human body, weighing too much on the human body. In addition, the infrared ray irradiation source used for infrared ray irradiation apparatus which have been fabricated and commercially available to date are said to be far infrared ray irradiation source, but in actuality contain a large volume of near infrared rays and has a construction in which the infrared ray irradiation source is formed in a single unit. Near infrared rays have large energy and provide low permeability to human body, and require long time to beat the depth of the human body, and patients must be anesthetized for treatment in order to prevent patients from moving. In addition, because the human body is exposed to infrared ray irradiation source containing near infrared rays for a long time, the energy applied to the body surface increases, and a problem of low-temperature burns occurs, and in order to reduce this problem, an expensive control means must be provided.
In view of the foregoing, it is the main object of this invention to provide an infrared ray irradiation apparatus and infrared ray irradiation source used therein which allow far infrared rays to reach the depth of the human body in a short time, enables optional setting of irradiation intensity for each portion of human body without generating low-temperature burns in patients, and can irradiate far infrared rays only.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the infrared ray irradiation apparatus according to the present invention comprises a human body mounting portion, an operable cover portion comprising exterior members, interior panels, and members containing filling material between these, and infrared ray irradiation source, wherein this infrared ray irradiation source is arranged more than one to irradiate with far infrared rays not containing near infrared rays with less than 4 &mgr;m wavelength, and the periphery of the human body accommodated in a space formed by the human body mounting portion and the cover portion is irradiated with far infrared rays.
It is desirable that the said operable cover portion is designed to be a semi-cylindrical form.
It is desirable that the infrared ray irradiation sources arranged more than one radiate far infrared rays of wavelength from 5 to 20 &mgr;m, more suitably from 8 to 15 &mgr;m. When the wavelength of far infrared rays radiated from the infrared ray irradiation apparatus is short wavelength of 5 to 20 &mgr;m, the temperature of each portion of the body is uniformly raised to the range required for treatment of diseases and is free of localized or excessive temperature rise. In addition, the energy applied to the human body surface does not rise as is the case when the infrared ray irradiation source containing near infrared rays is used, and consequently, there is no fear of generating low-temperature bums by heating the human body surface portion. And as a result of the whole human body heated uniformly, a control for measuring temperature of each body portion and feeding back the data are no longer required or can be simplified. In addition, the far infrared rays of long wavelength reach the depth of the human body, enabling treatment in a short time. Consequently, there is no need for anesthetizing patients before irradiation for treatment, and low-cost and safe treatments can be achieved.
In the case of this invention, since more than one said far infrared ray irradiation sources are arranged, it is possible to set radiation intensity for each irradiation source, and at the required portion, for example, where the distance from the affected portion or body surface to the central portion is large, the radiation intensity can be set high and irradiation time can be set long, and for other portions, irradiation can be set weak and short. Consequently, the use of the apparatus according to this invention no longer requires an expensive control as required by the conventional apparatus.
The other characteristic of this invention is that the far infrared ray irradiation source is installed to the human body mounting surface as in the case of interior panel. With this configuration, it is possible to irradiate the human body with far infrared rays from the overall periphery without rotating the human body during treatment, which contributes to uniform and rapid heating of whole human body and enables shortening of treatment time.
For the far infrared ray irradiation source used for this invention, it is preferable to arrange more than one sources whose size is smaller than that of the said human body mounting portion and interior panel. For the shape, circular, rhombic, square, and other various shapes can be used and are not particularly limited, but in view of the ease of fabrication and arrangement, the irradiation source with a rectangular radiation surface is preferable.
The far infrared ray irradiation source used for this invention has a construction with an inorganic-system material layer generating far infrared rays mounted on the heater surface, and for such inorganic system materials, alumina system, zirconia system, etc. are known and applicable.
This kind of infrared ray irradiation sources are preferably arranged more than 11. This is because when the number is small, it is unable to successfully control temperature of each body portion.
The infrared ray irradiation sources are preferably arranged more than 3 rows particularly in the length (height) direction of the human body and more than 2 rows in the circumferential direction. In particular, the number of rows of infrared ray irradiation sources arranged in the circumferential direction is preferably increased for the breast and the abdomen, and reduced for the leg portion. For the leg portion, it is desirable to irradiate the leg portion with infrared rays also from the sole of the foot, and consequently, it is preferable to provide an infrared ray irradiation source on the sole side.
It is preferable to separate and space these plurality of infrared ray irradiation sources with aluminum reflection plates. Aluminum provides high reflection efficiency of far infrared rays and even when the same infrared rays irradiation sources are used, irradiation and treatment of better efficiency can be carried out.
In this invention, it is preferable to install a fan for ventilating and fluidizing the air layer in the said space portion.
Dvorak Linda C. M.
Muramatsu & Associates
Ram Jocelyn Debra
Sun Medical Co., Ltd.
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