Surgery – Magnetic field applied to body for therapy
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-23
2001-01-30
Lacyk, John P. (Department: 3736)
Surgery
Magnetic field applied to body for therapy
C600S015000, C600S029000, C128SDIG008
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179769
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic stimulus type urinary incontinence treatment apparatus for magnetically treating a patient for urinary incontinence by supplying pulse current and thereby generating flux for generating eddy current in a physiological body.
As a urinary incontinence treatment, an electrical stimulus treatment for stress incontinence, urge incontinence and the like by fitting a stimulus electrode to a physiological body and supplying electrical pulses thereto has been well known in addition to a medical treatment and the like. In case of the electrical stimulus treatment, a plug-shaped electrode having a diameter of 2 cm and a length of 4 cm for a vagina or double enveloping electrode having the same dimensions for an anus connected to a pulse wave generator is inserted into the vagina or anus, and pulse current of a repeated frequency of several Hz to several tens Hz, a peak current of 1 to 100 mA and a pulse width of 100 &mgr;s to 1 ms is applied directly from the body surface. By so doing, pelvic floor muscle is stimulated and trained by the pulse current applied from the body surface and the weaken muscle is reinforced to thereby strengthen the force for tightening a urethra. Thus, it is effective in the treatment for stress incontinence.
As for urge incontinence caused by the involuntary contraction of a urinary bladder, pudendal nerves or their branches formed from the second to fourth sacral nerves of lunbosacral plexus are stimulated to thereby reflexively prevent the involuntary contraction of the urinary bladder, whereby urinary incontinence can be prevented.
However, the above-stated electrical stimulus treatment using a plug-type electrode requires inserting the electrode into the vagina or anus every time the treatment is conducted. Due to this, there occur problems such as a patient refuses treatment or refuses to continue treatment. Furthermore, if stimulus current is increased so as to obtain a prompt effect in a short period time, there is a possibility that this gives rise to a pain or, what is worse, a burn.
In these circumstances, the present applicant proposed a urinary incontinence treatment apparatus wherein a magnetic stimulus coil for generating repeated pulse-like flux provided at a coil installation tool installed in a room are fitted to regions from the patient's waist to crural region and the flux applied into the body allows eddy current to stimulate pelvic floor muscle, pudendal nerves and the like, as disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08,800,709.
This has made it possible to realize a urinary incontinence treatment apparatus capable of treating a patient for a disease without giving pain to the patient in a non-invasion manner while the patient has his or her clothes on. Meanwhile, in such a treatment, it is necessary to give consideration to electrical power efficiency and, in some cases, to provide a forced cooling system for forcedly cooling a magnetic stimulus coil to supply high current to the coil. Moreover, it is preferable that regions such as a womb, an ovary, a urinary bladder, testicles, which are not directly relevant to the treatment are not stimulated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above respects, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic stimulus type urinary incontinence treatment coil apparatus capable of stimulating regions effective for the urinary incontinence treatment in a concentrated manner.
To obtain the object, according to the present invention, the magnetic stimulus type urinary incontinence treatment coil apparatus generates flux for generating eddy current in a physiological body by comprising a foil having at least an upper surface curved in a concave manner in a longitudinal direction such that the coil is wound along and fitted to at least part of a region from an upper face region of a female patient's urethra opening to a rear face of her anus; and a support for supporting the coil to a position at which the coil is fitted to the patient.
Due to the upper surface having a corresponding concave curved shape, the coil is closely attached to or comes in at least close contact with at least part of the region from an upper face region positioned in front of the urethra opening to a rear face region positioned in the back of the anus. By so doing, eddy current due to flux is generated at a position outside of the patient's body close to a magnetic stimulus target region while the front and rear coil portions approach each other from the same plane in the direction in which they face each other.
According to the present invention, the coil is fitted to be closely attached to or comes in close contact with a fitting target position. Therefore, flux is generated while oriented to the stimulus target region and the region can be stimulated with high eddy current generated by strong magnetic field on the coil surface. The region is effectively stimulated while avoiding stimulating irrelevant regions. Treatment without the need to forcedly cooling the coil is also possible.
In addition, to further narrow the flux generation limit to a desired magnetic stimulus target region, the apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a coil wound around a magnetic core and a support for supporting the magnetic core to a position at which the coil is fitted to the patient and in that the magnetic core is formed such that the front and rear end faces of the coil are fitted to at least pat of a region from a front face region of a female patient's urethra opening to a rear face region of her anus. The end faces of the magnetic core are fitted to be closely attached to or at least come in close contact with at least part of a region from the front face region of the urethra opening to the rear face region of the anus. By so doing, eddy current passing both pelvic floor muscle and pudendal nerves distributing below the pelvic floor muscle or passing only the pudendal nerves is generated by the flux produced in a concentrated manner in the vicinity of end faces serving as magnetic poles positioned outside the patient's body close to the magnetic stimulus target region.
Moreover, according to the present invention, for purposes of allowing positions of front and rear coils to be adjustable in a longitudinal direction independently of each other, a pair of front and rear rotating plates having inner end portions adjacent to each other are rotatably supported by a tip end portion of a support such that positions of the rotating plates are adjusted in a longitudinal direction, respectively, and a pair of front and rear coils wound around surfaces of the rotating plates are provided at the rotating plates, respectively. The upper surface part of the rear coil of the coils of the front rotating plate and an upper surface part of the front coil of the coils of the rear rotating plate are positioned such that the upper surface parts are fitted to at least regions from a front face region of a urethra opening at rotating adjusted positions, and the pair of front and rear coils are supplied with current in directions opposite to each other. While the patient is seated or standing, the coils provided at the pair of rotating plates, respectively are fitted to be closely attached to or at least come in close contact with at least part of a region from the front end region of the urethra opening to the rear face region of the anus by adjusting the pair of rotating plates in the longitudinal direction, independently of each other.
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Hosaka Hidehiro
Ishikawa Norio
Sasaki Tadashi
Suda Shin
Hoffmann & Baron , LLP
Lacyk John P.
Nihon Kohden Corporation
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