Surgery – Magnetic field applied to body for therapy – Magnetic element placed within body
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-05
2004-05-04
Bennett, Henry (Department: 3742)
Surgery
Magnetic field applied to body for therapy
Magnetic element placed within body
C600S009000, C600S015000, C606S151000, C606S157000, C602S042000, C602S078000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06730014
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a medical treatment method and an associated device. The method may be used in the treatment of such conditions as esophageal varices, hemorrhoids, tumors, and wounds or holes particularly in internal tissues.
Many medical conditions involve swollen tissues which attain such a size as to inhibit or interfere with one or more necessary physiological functions. An example of such swollen tissues are varices of the digestive tract. Gastric and esophageal varices are a devastating complication of portal hypertension. To treat such bleeding varices, it is necessary at times to use a long tube with two inflatable balloons at a distal end, known as a “Blakemore Tube.” In using this device to stop the flow of blood in the stomach, the tube is blindly inserted into the esophagus until it is believed that the most distal of the two balloons is located in the patient's stomach. That balloon is then inflated and the tube placed in tension (e.g., via attachment to a weight outside of the patient) to pull the inflated balloon against the stomach wall at the gastroesophageal junction. In the event that bleeding esophageal varices are to be treated, the relatively proximal balloon is also inflated.
The rate of complications in the use of the Blakemore tube is immense. The complications result mainly from poor placement or slippage of the tube. In addition, the relatively proximal balloon sometimes erodes into the esophagus, causing bleeding, perforation and necrosis of the esophagus.
Another kind of swollen internal tissues, namely, hemorrhoids, are located at the downstream end of the digestive tract. Hemorrhoids are a common malady which causes substantial pain and suffering to millions of people. The best conventional treatment for this affliction is a soaking of the hemorrhoidal tissues in a hypertonic bath, such as a solution of Epsom salts. However, this treatment is not especially effective. A need exists for a more convenient and yet effective treatment for hemorrhoids.
Certain cancers represent yet another kind of swollen tissues. Once cancer has reached the tumor stage, where lumps of cancerous tissues are detectable either directly through touch and vision or indirectly with the aid of MRI and CAT scanners, the principal treatment is surgical. The victim is operated on and the tumor cut out of the body. Frequently, the location and size of the tumor are such that surgical removal results in a severe impairment to the patient's body and lifestyle. For example, surgical removal of a large tumor in a femur frequently results in an amputation.
The operations for surgically removing tumors are nearly universally open incision type operations. These operations are naturally debilitating and require extensive post surgical care. For these reasons, the costs of conventional open incision surgery are enormous.
Although minimally invasive procedures such as laparoscopic or thoracoscopic surgery have increased at geometric rates in frequency of performance, minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of cancer has not been employed. Of course, other kinds of minimally invasive techniques such as chemotherapy and radiation treatment are widely practiced. However, these techniques have substantial debilitating side effects. Patients must suffer significantly in virtually every case.
Nevertheless, minimally invasive techniques are the future of medicine. Patient trauma and hospitalization time are reduced. In addition, costs and expenses are decreased.
Internal wounds such as perforations of internal organs are also generally treated by open surgery. Such wounds may be the result of traumas. A blunt trauma may cause a rupture, for instance, of the spleen and consequent internal bleeding.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for treating swollen tissues including, but not limited to, hemorrhoidal tissues, esophageal or gastric varices, and tumors.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method which is less invasive than conventional open-incision surgical techniques.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a method which is less expensive than one or more conventional techniques.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a treatment technique which is of little danger to the patient.
A related object of the present invention is to provide an associated device or assembly for treating such swollen tissues.
These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the drawings and descriptions herein. It is to be noted that any one of the above objects may be attained in one or more embodiment of the invention disclosed herein. No one embodiment need attain all of the objects of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A medical treatment method comprises, in accordance with the present invention, injecting at least one first magnetic element into organic tissues of a patient on one side of a feature to be closed or collapsed, injecting at least one second magnetic element into the organic tissues of the patient on an opposite side of the feature to be closed or collapsed, and, by virtue of a magnetic attraction between the first magnetic element and the second magnetic element, drawing the organic tissues of the patient together to close or collapse the feature.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the feature to be treated by the method includes a blood vessel. The treatment technique in this circumstance serves in part to constrict the blood vessel. Other tissues about the blood vessel may also be clamped or collapsed owing to the magnetic attraction between the injected elements. For instance, where the blood vessel is in esophageal varices, the drawing of the organic tissues of the patient together includes a constricting or reducing of the varices. Thus, in one simple procedure, the esophagus is opened and the blood vessels in the varices are closed off, preventing bleeding into the digestive tract.
A procedure for constricting swollen internal tissues in accordance with the present invention is preferably executed in a minimally invasive manner. Thus, where the swollen target tissues are esophageal varices, an endoscope is inserted into the patient's esophagus and the magnetic elements are ejected from a biopsy channel of the endoscope. The optics of the endoscope are used to visually detect the varices and select a point of entry on the varices for the magnetic elements.
Where target swollen tissues are a hemorrhoid, the drawing of the organic tissues of the patient together result in a size reduction of the hemorrhoid, as well as a constricting of one or more blood vessels of the hemorrhoid.
The organic tissues into which the magnetic elements are injected may be a tumor. In that case, the drawing together of the tissues entails an interrupting of a blood supply of the tumor. The attraction between the magnetic elements serves to at least partially collapse the blood vessels which feed the tumor. In many cases, the magnetic elements may be injected into a tumor via a minimally invasive procedure. A needle may be used to inject the magnetic elements.
In general, where the target tissues are swollen tissues such as varices, a tumor, or hemorrhoids, it is not necessary to identify and locate particular blood vessels which are to be closed or collapsed. Instead, the magnetic elements are injected into the target tissues in such numbers and with such a density that blood vessels located in the target tissues are naturally constricted by the movement of the injected magnetic elements under the magnetic attractive forces.
In some cases, the target is an identifiable wound or opening. In that case, a permanent magnet is injected into tissues on one side of the wound or opening, while another permanent magnet or one or more magnetizable particles (generally metallic) are injected on an opposite side of the wound or opening. The magnetic attraction results in a constricting of the t
Bennett Henry
Coleman Henry D.
Dahbour Fadi H.
Sapone William J.
Sudol R. Neil
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