Surgery: kinesitherapy – Kinesitherapy – Ultrasonic
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-07
2004-04-06
Smith, Ruth S. (Department: 3737)
Surgery: kinesitherapy
Kinesitherapy
Ultrasonic
C600S439000, C600S459000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06716184
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to ultrasonic imaging and therapy apparatus and method incorporating both ultrasonic observation and therapeutic waves, and more specifically to apparatus and method designed to allow real time, noise-free imaging of a treatment site to which high intensity focused ultrasound is directed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Ultrasound has gained acceptance as an imaging technique particularly well suited to providing information about a patient's internal structures without risk of exposure to potentially harmful radiation, as may occur when using X-ray imaging techniques. The first recorded use of ultrasound as an imaging technique was by Dr. Karl Dussik, a Psychiatrist at the hospital in Bad Ischl, Austria; who tried to locate brain tumors using ultrasound. He used two opposed probes, including one that transmitted ultrasound waves, while the other probe received them. With these probes, he transmitted an ultrasound beam through a patient's skull, and used the received signal to visualize the cerebral structure by measuring the ultrasound beam attenuation. He published his technique in 1942, in an article entitled, “
Hyperphonography of the Brain.”
Specially manufactured medical diagnostic equipment using ultrasound became available in the 1950's. An ultrasound examination is a safe diagnostic procedure that uses very high-frequency sound waves to produce an image of the internal structures of the body. Many studies have shown that these sound waves are harmless and may be used with complete safety, even on pregnant women, where the use of X-rays would be inappropriate. Furthermore, ultrasound examinations are sometimes quicker and typically less expensive than other imaging techniques.
More recently, the use of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for therapeutic purposes, as opposed to imaging, has received significant attention in the medical community. HIFU therapy employs ultrasound transducers that are capable of delivering 1,000-10,000 W/cm
2
at a focal spot, in contrast to diagnostic ultrasound where intensity levels are usually below 0.1 W/cm
2
. A portion of the mechanical energy from these high intensity sound waves is transferred to the targeted location as thermal energy. The amount of thermal energy thus transferred can be sufficiently intense to cauterize tissue, or to cause tissue necrosis (by inducing a temperature rise to beyond 70° C.) without actual physical charring of the tissue. Tissue necrosis can also be achieved by mechanical action alone (i.e., by cavitation that results in mechanical disruption of the tissue structure). Further, where the vascular system supplying blood to an internal structure is targeted, HIFU can be used to induce hemostasis. The focal point of this energy transfer can be tightly controlled so as to obtain tissue necrosis in a small target area without damaging adjoining tissue. Thus, deep-seated tumors can be destroyed with HIFU without surgical exposure of the tumor site.
A particular advantage of HIFU therapy over certain traditional therapies is that HIFU is less invasive. The current direction of medical therapy is progressively toward utilizing less-invasive and non-operative approaches, as will be evident from the increasing use of laparoscopic and endoscopic techniques. Advantages include reduced blood loss, reduced risk of infection, shorter hospital stays, and lower health care costs. HIFU has the potential to provide an additional treatment methodology consistent with this trend by offering a method of non-invasive surgery. HIFU enables transcutaneous tumor treatment without making a single incision, thus avoiding blood loss and the risk of infection. Also, HIFU therapy may be performed without the need for anesthesia, thereby reducing surgical complications and cost. Most importantly, these treatments may be performed on an outpatient basis, further reducing health care cost, while increasing patient comfort.
The use of HIFU for the destruction of tumors is a relatively new technique. The first clinical trials were performed on patients with hyperkinetic and hypertonic disorders (symptoms of Parkinson's disease). HIFU was used to produce coagulation necrosis lesions in specific complexes of the brain. While the treatment was quite successful, monitoring and guidance of the HIFU lesion formation was not easily achieved (N. T. Sanghvi and R. H. Hawes, “High-intensity focused ultrasound,”
Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Clinics of North America,
vol. 4, pp. 383-95, 1994). The problem has been that the high energy therapeutic wave introduces a significant amount of noise into an ultrasound imaging signal employed to monitor the treatment site, making simultaneous imaging and treatment difficult. Indeed, the high energy of the HIFU can completely overwhelm conventional ultrasonic imaging systems. However, the advancement of imaging modalities has provided grounds for renewed research and development of HIFU-based tumor treatment methods. In general, current methods involve the use of discrete imaging and therapeutic steps, i.e., a treatment site is first imaged, therapy is applied, and the treatment site is again imaged. The therapeutic transducer is de-energized during the imaging process to eliminate the noise it would otherwise produce. However, the time required for carrying out each of these discrete steps has prevented the significant potential of HIFU from being fully realized, since real-time guidance and monitoring of HIFU has not been achieved.
Two HIFU-based systems have been developed for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in humans (E. D. Mulligan, T. H. Lynch, D. Mulvin, D. Greene, J. M. Smith, and J. M. Fitzpatrick, “High-intensity focused ultrasound in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia,”
Br J Urol,
vol. 70, pp. 177-80, 1997). These systems are currently in clinical use in Europe and Japan, and are undergoing clinical trials in the United States. Both systems use a transrectal HIFU probe to deliver 1,000-2,000 W/cm
2
to the prostate tissue through the rectum wall. No evidence of damage to the rectal wall has been observed during a rectoscopy, performed immediately after HIFU treatment (S. Madersbacher, C. Kratzik, M. Susani, and M. Marberger, “Tissue ablation in benign prostatic hyperplasia with high intensity focused ultrasound,”
Journal of Urology,
vol. 152, pp. 1956-60; discussion 1960-1, 1994). Follow-up studies have shown decreased symptoms of BPH (i.e., increased urinary flow rate, decreased post-void residual volume, and decreased symptoms of irritation and obstruction; see S. Madersbacher, C. Kratzik, N. Szabo, M. Susani, L. Vingers, and M. Marberger, “Tissue ablation in benign prostatic hyperplasia with high-intensity focused ultrasound,”
European Urology,
vol. 23 Suppl 1, pp. 39-43, 1993). In this prior art use of HIFU, ultrasound imaging is employed to obtain pre- and post-treatment maps of the prostate and the treatment area. Significantly, the noise induced in the imaging signal by the HIFU prevents real time imaging of the treatment site. Therefore, strict imaging requirements, such as no patient movement during the entire procedure (thus, the need for general or spinal anesthesia), limit the performance of these systems. It should be noted that respiration alone can result in sufficient patient movement so that the HIFU is no longer targeted as precisely as would be desired. Especially where the treatment site is adjacent to critical internal structures that can be damaged, the lack of real time imaging is a significant drawback to an otherwise potentially very useful treatment methodology.
HIFU has also been studied for the de-bulking of malignant tumors (C. R. Hill and G. R. ter Haar, “Review article: high intensity focused ultrasound—potential for cancer treatment,”
Br J Radiol
, vol. 68, pp. 1296-1303, 1995). Prostate cancer (S. Madersbacher, M. Pedevilla, L. Vingers, M. Susani, and M. Marberger, “Effect of high-intensity focused ultrasound on human prostate cancer in vivo,”
Cancer R
Carter Stephen J.
Crum Lawrence A.
Fujimoto Victor Y.
Keilman George W.
Martin Roy W.
Anderson Ronald M.
Smith Ruth S.
University of Washington
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