Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-15
2004-06-15
Bockelman, Mark (Department: 3762)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
C604S020000, C600S009000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06749596
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to the electrophysiology of the human body. More specifically, the invention provides methods of altering normal charge distribution within selected areas of the body to increase the effectiveness of bioactive agents such as drugs in these areas.
BACKGROUND ART
Modern medical practice includes the application of electromotive force, defined by the
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
, 39th Edition, as “that which causes a flow of current”, to the body in several beneficial techniques. For example, pharmacological agents are delivered to, or released at, target sites within the body through the use of current flow, either between electrodes or induced by oscillating or pulsing electric or magnetic fields which alternately push and pull electrons within the body structure. Balkiston's Gould Medical Dictionary (McGraw-Hill) defines these techniques as:
Iontophoresis: a method of inducing therapeutic particles into skin or other tissue by means of electric current.
Electrophoresis: the migration of charged colloidal particles through the medium in which they are disbursed when placed under the influence of an applied electric potential.
Electroosmosis: the movement of a conducting liquid through a permeable membrane under the influence of a potential gradient, thought to be caused by the opposite electrification of the membrane and liquid.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,141,359 and 5,336,168 show representative methods of these technologies.
In another medical use of electromotive force, direct or induced current flow is used to promote bone healing. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,873 and 4,993,413 show representative methods of this technology.
In still another medical use of electromotive force, direct or induced current flow is used for “electrostimulation” of nerves to mask pain. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,342,410 and 5,397,338 show representative methods of this technology.
The foregoing uses of electromotive force in medicine all involve a flow of current, or continuous movement of charge carriers (i.e., electrons or ions) through a conductive medium under the influence of an electric field that is maintained in the medium by contact with a power source. Unless an electric field within a conductor is maintained by a power source, however, the field and thus also the current will drop to zero regardless of the field outside the conductor. This is a well known and accepted tenet of basic physics. In regard to conductive biological systems, some researchers in the field have predicted, on a theoretical level, that an external electric field with no conductive connection to the body is reduced to such a degree inward of the surface of a human body that it has been commonly believed that an external electric field alone could have little effect inside the body. For example, one researcher has used Maxwell's equations with certain boundary conditions to mathematically predict that a static electric field passing inside a living organism is rendered one trillion times smaller inside the organism than the same field outside the organism. Also, the same equations have been employed to support a prediction that the electric field portion of a 60 Hertz electromagnetic field is rendered 40 billion times smaller inside a living organism than the same field outside the organism (
CRC Handbook of Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields
, CRC Press, pages 5-9, 1986).
As a result of this common belief concerning abrupt reduction of an external electric field at the surface of a living organism, the question of whether such a field may have biological effects on living organisms has received little attention.
A magnetic field, on the other hand, is able to penetrate into a conductor. Unlike external electric fields, magnetic fields have a role in the modern practice of medicine. For example, large magnets are used in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging systems.
A magnetic field can have biological consequences. Researchers have reported that a magnetic field can alter the growth of bacteria and yeasts. Researchers have also reported that a magnetic field can alter enzyme activity in vitro, particularly if the field is non-uniform. Furthermore, researchers have reported that a magnetic field reduces the ability of protozoa to survive exposure to a toxic substance. See the
CRC Handbook of Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields
, supra, at pages 173-175.
The prior art does not contemplate the use of static electric or static magnetic fields to increase the effectiveness of bioactive agents by altering the receptivity or susceptibility of cells, or other therapeutic targets such as bacteria or viruses for example, to such agents. These methods form the basis of the invention.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is now recognized that every action in every living organism, including the human body, results from electric charges and their attendant electric fields. Each of the approximately seventy-five trillion cells in a human body utilizes specific patterns of electric charges to create specific patterns and strengths of electric fields on, within, and around the cell membranes and interior components to carry out the various processes required to maintain life. Abnormal charge distributions can lead to an inability to properly carry out normal processes and result in maladies ranging from aches and pains to serious disease. Such maladies, and even a genetic susceptibility to such maladies, shall be referred to herein as “disease conditions”.
The drugs and other bioactive agents that are administered to treat such maladies have molecules with a specific electron arrangement which provides a specific electric field. Organic materials such as cells in the human body likewise have chemical constituents with specific electron and electric field arrangements, as do pathogens and toxins. The reason a particular bioactive agent is effective in treating a particular disease is generally that the specific electron and electric field arrangement exhibited by the bioactive agent interacts, in a complimentary fashion, with the specific electron and electric field arrangement exhibited by a site on a therapeutic target, such as human cells, enzymes, bacteria, and so forth. This interaction alters the nature of the target in a manner that is beneficial to the patient. For example, a bioactive agent may have an electrical configuration which interacts with that at some location of a human cell to cause the agent to accumulate near, or attach to, a specific receptor on or in the cell. This, at least temporarily, beneficially alters the cell, or the cell's operation, or aids the cell in carrying out normal processes. This dependence on specific electron and field strength patterns is the reason bioactive agents are effective against some maladies and not others. This is also the reason some agents are only marginally effective, i.e., the electron pattern and resulting field strength of the agent's molecules are not quite right for optimum attraction of, and connection with, a therapeutic target giving the desired result. It is almost universally desirable to increase the effectiveness, or increase the range of effects, of the bioactive agents in the medical pharmacopoeia.
The inventor has discovered that exposing the body, or specific desired areas of the body, to a static electric field or to a static magnetic field can significantly increase the effect of some bioactive agents on the body. Presumably these fields act to slightly alter or strengthen the electric charge distribution pattern near, on, or within the exposed body cells, and thus increase the receptivity or susceptibility of the cells to reaction with the bioactive agent. Also, there is reason to believe that using static electric or static magnetic force fields to alter the normal electric charge distribution near, on, or within the exposed cells may in addition cause the cells to prematurely initiate some of their normal metabolic operations and thus place them in a condition which increases their receptivity or susce
Rogers Mark
Speed Gary N.
LandOfFree
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