Mmtc, Inc.

Rca Inc.

Other

General Electric Company

Welch Allyn, Inc.

Angiodynamics, Inc.

North Shore University Hospital Research Corporation

Fred Sterzer

Daniel D Mawhinney

John A Lane

David Edward Quinn

William M Appling

Arye Rosen

Matthew David Mullin

Giorgio Di Palma

Paul J Stabile

Gerald Stanley Kaplan

Robert W Paglione

Charles N Stewart

Laleh Rabieirad

Paul T Finger

Provided among other things is a thermal noise imaging device with (a) thermal noise source; (b) amplifier of thermal noise; (c) antennas adapted to transmit the amplified noise to a perfused body and receive perfused body noise; (d) reference circuit adapted to receive the amplified thermal noise and produce a reference signal; (e) perfused body docking interface adapted to interface with one or more surfaces of the perfused body and (i) support a reflection set of one or more antennas in close proximity with a surface of the perfused body or (ii) support separate transmission sets of one or more antennas on opposing surfaces of the perfused body; and (f) analytical module for the perfused body noise and the reference signal and determining a reflected power from the reflection set or a transmitted power from the transmission sets.

Diagnostic devices using thermal noise

A microwave handheld radiometer for measuring subsurface tissue temperature of a subject includes a microwave antenna disposed relative to a handheld radiometer housing and adapted to electromagnetically couple to a skin surface of a subject, a circulator having a first circulator input and a second circulator input, wherein the first circulator input is electrically coupled to said antenna via a microwave feedline. A switch is electrically disposed between the antenna and an microwave feedline, said switch having a calibrate state and a measure state. A noise source, electrically coupled to the circulator, is being configured to provide a first source of thermal noise at a first temperature and a second source of thermal noise at a second temperature, wherein the noise source is switched between the first source and second source upon external command wherein a detector provides an output wherein surface temperature effects are corrected for the sub-surface measurement.

Handheld medical microwave radiometer

A minimally-invasive fluid-cooled insertion sleeve assembly, with an attached balloon and distally-located penetrating tip, into which sleeve any of a group comprising a rigid rod, a microwave-radiator assembly and an ultrasonic-imaging transducer assembly may be inserted, constitutes a probe of the system. The sleeve assembly comprises spaced inner and outer plastic tubes with two fluid channels situated within the coaxial lumen between the inner and outer tubes. The fluid coolant input flows through the fluid channels into the balloon, thereby inflating the balloon, and then exits through that coaxial lumen. An alternative embodiment has no balloon. The method employs the probe for piercing sub-cutaneous tissue and then ablating deep-seated tumor tissue with microwave-radiation generated heat.

Interstitial microwave system and method for thermal treatment of diseases

2&#x2212;1 four-terminal phase-reversing switches are arranged in one or more columns of cascaded switches, wherein a frequency having a given relative phase &#x3c6; is applied as an input of the top switch in a cascade. A particular configuration of 2&#x2212;1 different reference-values, determined by a preselected N-Bit binary code, is applied to the respective 2&#x2212;1 switches so that (1) whenever the amplitude value of an applied analog signal reaches a value equal to the reference value applied to any switch, that switch will switch to reverse the phase at its output from the phase at its input, and (2) cause the switching of the phase at the output at each switch ordinally situated in a column below that switch. The respective output phases from a certain subset of N switches of the 2&#x2212;1 switches define the binary values of the preselected N-Bit binary code output from the A/D converter.

Analog-to-digital converters employing cascaded phase-reversing switches

Each of various modifications of an integrated-structure inflatable balloon catheter design includes a longitudinal structure having a sharply-pointed insertion needle at a distal end of the longitudinal structure and an inflatable balloon situated intermediate a proximate end and the distal end of the longitudinal structure which is attached to said longitudinal structure. With the inflatable balloon in a deflated state, the insertion needle may be used to puncture the patient's skin and underlying sub-cutaneous tissue and place the deflated balloon in proximity to the diseased sub-cutaneous tissue, The balloon is then inflated to press against and thereby spatially deform the diseased sub-cutaneous tissue, after which the deformed diseased sub-cutaneous tissue may be therapeutically heated. This heating may be sufficient to cause the creation of a permanent cavity in the deformed diseased sub-cutaneous tissue which persists after the catheter is withdrawn. This permits any selected one of various therapeutic substances to be introduced into this a permanent cavity. One modification employs a balloon having a selected non-uniform, odd pattern shape which, when inflated, cooperates with the shape of the diseased sub-cutaneous tissue. This one modification also may be beneficially used in prostate-treating balloon catheters, which do not have a sharply-pointed insertion needle at the distal end thereof.

Inflatable balloon catheter structural designs and methods for treating diseased tissue of a patient

Disclosed are a plurality of different circuits employing a field effect transistor (FET), that preferably is a pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (PHEMT) that may be fabricated on a large-size monolithic chip, wherein the PHEMT is operated as a variable resistance in response to a first operating signal voltage applied to its gate and a second operating signal voltage having at least a first of two opposite polarities applied to its drain-source path, at least one of first and second operating signal voltages includes a multigigahertz frequency signal component having a certain phase; and the respective amplitudes of the first and second operating signal voltages are sufficiently low that the maximum power dissipation by the circuit is in the order of microwatts or less. The different circuits include (1) modulators and demodulators for converting between pulse-encoded binary data and biphase-encoded binary data that may be employed as chip input/output devices, (2) various microwave phase logic (MPL) devices, (3) a transmission gate and (4) a variable impedance device.

Biphase-encoded signal processing employing passive and/or semi-passive transistor circuits

An N-bit analog to biphase-encoded analog-to digital converter, which comprises (1) a biphase amplitude modulator responsive to an analog signal and a microwave pump carrier frequency f.sub.c for deriving a biphase-encoded carrier signal having a phase value determined by the current polarity of the analog signal and a peak amplitude determined by the current magnitude of the analog signal, and (2) an ordinally-arranged group of comparators. The modulator and the comparators, in order, derive fixed-amplitude, biphase-encoded output signals, each having a phase value indicative of a separate one of the most significant bit (MSB) to the Nth MSB in response to a biphase-encoded, modulated-carrier signal and the pump carrier frequency f.sub.c applied as inputs to each of the ordinally-arranged comparators. A corresponding ordinally-arranged group of sample and hold circuits, each responsive to an applied periodically-occurring sample clock from a sample clock circuit, are used to sample and then hold for a sample period the then-current phase of each of the MSB to Nth MSB output signals from comparators. Alternatively, a sample latch included in each of the group of comparators can replace the sample and hold circuits. Doubly-balanced mixers, each operating as either a modulator or a demodulator, are used to implement the biphase amplitude modulator, each of the comparators, each of the sample and hold circuits and sample clock circuit.

Microwave phase logic implementations of an analog-to-digital converter

Disclosed are three embodiments of a method for determining the formation of a 'biological stent' for permanently maintaining the widened bore portion of the urethra of a male patient undergoing treatment for a disease of the prostate. In this treatment, the bore portion is first temporarily widened by squeezing pressure on urethral tissue thereof applied by an inflated balloon of a microwave balloon catheter inserted in the urethera and then microwave energy sufficient to form the 'biological stent' is applied to the urethral tissue. The first embodiment involves noting an observable drop in the measured value of the inflation pressure inflating the balloon when the urethral tissue has been sufficiently heated to effect a noticeable drop in the elasticity of the irradiated urethral tissue. The second embodiment involves a noticeable observable change in the measured value of the reflected microwave power received by the microwave-transmitting antenna when the urethral tissue has been sufficiently heated to effect a noticeable change in the reflectivity of the irradiated urethral tissue. The third embodiment involves a noticeable observable change in the measured value of the transmitted microwave power received by a directional microwave-receiving antenna within a patient's rectum when the urethral tissue has been sufficiently heated to effect a noticeable change in the transmissivity of the irradiated urethral tissue.

Method employing a tissue-heating balloon catheter to produce a

Disclosed are four improvements in temperature-measuring radiometric equipment. The first improvement is directed to increasing the sensitivity of a radiometer by employing microwave noise power derived from a reference noise source in an amount that corresponds to a temperature higher than that of the specimen, and applying the reference-noise-source-derived microwave noise power as an input to the radiometer for a shorter time than is microwave noise power derived from a specimen. The second improvement is directed to reducing emissivity error by employing open-loop means comprising a microwave circulator for applying microwave noise power generated by at least one resistor thermostatically heated to a temperature in the neighborhood of the temperature of a patient's body tissue back to the body tissue. The third improvement, which is suitable for use in an applicator insertable into a natural opening of a patient's body that is employed in the detection and location of a cancerous lesion, is directed to a microwave radiometer that employs two displaced microwave antennas to measure the temperature difference between two points of a patient's body tissue or other type of specimen. The fourth improvement is directed to radiometric equipment that is combined with mammographic equipment to provide a superior capability for detecting and locating a breast cancer lesion.

Temperature-measuring microwave radiometer apparatus

Any one of several improved devices capable of implementing microwave phase logic (MPL) operating at gigabits per second rates comprises either at least one of means performing the function of a multigate microwave-monolithic-integrated-circuit (MMIC) field-effect transistor (FET), or a pair of doubly-balanced mixers, in which each of the mixers includes an RF port, a local-oscillator (LO) port and an IF port, and the IF port of a first of the doubly-balanced mixers is directly connected to the IF port of a second of the doubly-balanced mixers. The first of the doubly-balanced mixers is operative as a demodulator for deriving (1) a given polarity at its IF port in response to substantially in-phase signals of the same first specified frequency being respectively applied to its RF and LO ports and (2) a polarity opposite to the given polarity at its IF port in response to substantially out-of-phase signals of the same first specified frequency being respectively applied to its RF and LO ports, and the second of the doubly-balanced mixers is operative as a modulator for deriving (3) a signal of a given phase and second specified frequency at its RF port in response to a signal of the second specified frequency being applied to its LO port and the given polarity being applied its IF port and (4) a signal of a phase substantially 180.degree. out-of-phase with the given phase and second specified frequency at its RF port in response to a signal of the second specified frequency applied to its LO port and the polarity opposite to the given polarity being applied its IF port.

Devices for implementing microwave phase logic

Pulse shocks of high-frequency wave energy (e.g. RF, microwave, high-energy infra-red or laser electromagnetic wave energy or ultrasonic acoustic wave energy), rather than DC electric pulses, are employed to non-invasively produce force fields of an intensity sufficient to create transient pores in the plasma membranes of targeted cells, such as tumor cells or other diseased cells, through which either locally or systemically applied drug or chemotherapeutic agents can easily enter and be taken up by the targeted cells, even for (1) the cells of a deep-seated tumor, (2) non-localized metastasized tumor cells within a patient's body, or (3) cells (e.g., blood cells) temporarily removed to outside of a patient's body.

Method for enhancing delivery of chemotherapy employing high-frequency

The use of one or more multi-gate (e.g., dual-gate) FETs are employed in an RF or microwave delay line. The carrier drift velocity in each multi-gate FET is controlled in accordance with the variable magnitude of a delay-control voltage applied between its drain and source, thereby controlling the time delay experienced by an RF or microwave signal traveling between spaced first and second gates of a multi-gate FET. The gates of a plurality of multi-gate FETs may be serially-coupled through amplifying circuits to produce a delay chain in which the total delay is the sum of the delays of all the multi-gate FETs in the chain. A single delay-control voltage, which can be continuously variable, may be used to control the total delay provided by all multi-gate FETs in the chain. Alternatively, a separate delay-control voltage, which can be independently continuously variable, may be used for independently controlling the delay provided by each individual multi-gate FET in the chain. RF and microwave analog delay lines are useful in such apparatus as difference-in-time-of-arrival direction finders and transversal filters, by way of example.

Continuously-variable monolithic RF and microwave analog delay lines

A miniaturized microwave applicator comprises a thin-wall metal dielectric-filled waveguide having a thermocouple preferably disposed in a groove in the surface of the dielectric radiating aperture of the waveguide when the aperture is placed in contact with a spot on the outer surface of the conjunctiva or sclera overlying the type of given internal tissue of the eye, such as the ciliary body or chorioretinal tissue, which has a relatively high water content compared to conjunctival or scleral eye tissue. This permits cyclodestruction of the ciliary body, as a treatment for glaucoma, by heat generated by absorbed microwave energy radiated thereto during a given time. It also permits microwave heating to repair a detached retina by chorioretinal scar formation. Damage due to overheating of the tissue is prevented by the thermocouple, which monitors the conjunctival or sclera surface temperature, being used to thermostatically control the microwave energy supplied to the waveguide in a manner that the conjunctival or scleral tissue temperature is maintained substantially constant at a value below that which would cause damage thereto. The desired operation is dependent on the fact that very little of the microwave energy is absorbed by the low-water-content conjunctival or scleral tissue as it passes therethrough, but is highly absorbed by the underlying high-water-content of the given internal tissue.

Growing community of inventors

Princeton, NJ, United States of America

Fred Sterzer