Celsion Corporation

Boston Scientific Corporation

Medifocus, Inc.

John Mon

Alan J Fenn

Dennis Smith

Weiping Yu

An apparatus and method for administering focused energy to a body using either a single energy applicator or multiple energy applicators to supply heat prior to, concurrently with and/or after delivery of a drug, gene and/or viral vector. A multi-modality treatment using a localized, focused and/or regional heating apparatus, which supplies heat to a defined area of a patient's body. The apparatus is used heat is used to pretreat a specific body site, to activate thermoactivated drugs, genes, or viral vectors, and/or to deliver drugs, genes, or viral vectors to the specific body site. The heating apparatus is provided with one or more variable and adjustable probes and one or more delivery ports heat the specific treatment site and to deliver the thermoactivated drugs and genes to the specific treatment site. Each probe may optionally be provided with one or more temperature sensors to allow for the temperature in the specific treatment site and the surrounding tissue to be properly regulated. The use of the apparatus and method allow for the heat conditioning of a specific treatment site and for the delivery or activation of a drug, gene, or viral vector limited to only the specific treatment site, allowing for a more accurate treatment of diseased tissue without damaging healthy tissue. In addition, this method is uniquely used with non invasive technologies to help determine on a real time basis the completion of the treatment.

Apparatus and method for pre-conditioning/fixation and treatment of disease with heat activation/release with thermoactivated drugs and gene products

A method of treating cancer by introducing heat into cancerous tissue and delivering a liposome containing an active agent or a thermo-activated drug, gene or virus to said tissue. The heat delivered is sufficient to release the active agent or activate the thermo-activated drug, gene or virus. The cancer can be esophageal cancer. The liposome containing an active agent or a thermo-activated drug, gene or virus can be a thermosensitive liposome. The active agent can be an anti-neoplastic agent, for example doxorubicin.

Pre-conditioning/fixation for disease treatment heat activation/release with thermo-activated drugs and gene products

A method and apparatus () of treating tissue adjacent a bodily conduit using thermotherapy, while preventing obstructions of the bodily conduit due to edema, includes injection of a drug-encapsulated within a heat-sensitive carrier, such as a liposome, within a region of tissue to be treated. The heat produced by the energy-emitting source () heats a portion of the tissue surrounding the bodily conduit to a temperature of approximately 43&#xb0; C. for a time sufficient to destroy the heated portion of the tissue. In addition, the heat produced by the energy-emitting source () activates the heat-sensitive carrier to activate the release of the encapsulated drug and the drug targets the tissue to be heated. The focused energy of the energy-emitting source together with the compression acting on the target area can assist in delivering drugs to the target area so that a natural stent has a long term efficacy.

Drug delivery

An apparatus for treatment of tissue within a body requiring thermotherapy includes a catheter to be inserted into a bodily conduit, an energy-emitting source disposed within the catheter, a compression balloon surrounding the energy-emitting source where the compression balloon has an inflated diameter that is greater than that of the bodily conduit in a relaxed state and an outside surface of the balloon is coated with one of gene modifiers and drug or medication, and means for activating the energy-emitting source to radiate energy to heat the drug-coated compression balloon and tissue to be treated whereby the heated drug-coated compression balloon effectively delivers the one of the gene modifiers and drug or medication to a target area of the diseased tissue. In addition, methods for using the above apparatus to treat diseased tissue are disclosed.

Catheter

A method and apparatus of treating tissue adjacent to a bodily conduit using thermotherapy, while preventing obstructions of the bodily conduit due to edema employs the circulation of warmed fluid to maintain the temperature of the bodily conduit walls and compresses the tissue to be treated to increase the effectiveness of the irradiated heat. An energy-emitting source containing catheter is inserted in a bodily conduit and is positioned in a region of the tissue to be treated so that the energy-emitting source radiates energy to the tissue to be treated. Fluid warmed to over 30&#xb0; C. is circulated into and through the catheter to warm walls of the bodily conduit adjacent the catheter. The circulated fluid inflates a balloon to a pressure to compress the tissue to be treated. The combination of warmed fluid over 30&#xb0; C. being circulated adjacent the bodily conduit to maintain the warmth in its walls and the compression of the tissue to be treated enables a natural stent to be formed that remains after the catheter and compression balloon is removed.

Device and method for treatment of tissue adjacent a bodily conduit by thermocompression

A method and apparatus of treating tissue adjacent a bodily conduit using thermotherapy, while preventing obstructions of the bodily conduit due to edema, includes injection of a drug-encapsulated within a heat-sensitive carrier, such as a liposome, within a region of tissue to be treated. The heat produced by the energy-emitting source heats a portion of the tissue surrounding the bodily conduit to a temperature of approximately 43&#xb0; C. for a time sufficient to destroy the heated portion of the tissue. In addition, the heat produced by the energy-emitting source activates the heat-sensitive carrier to activate the release of the encapsulated drug and the drug targets the tissue to be heated. The focused energy of the energy-emitting source together with the compression acting on the target area can assist in delivering drugs to the target area so that a natural stent has a long term efficacy.

Apparatus for treatment of tissue adjacent a bodily conduit with a gene or drug-coated compression balloon

Method and apparatus treating tissue adjacent a bodily conduit with thermocompression and drugs

Device for treatment of tissue adjacent a bodily conduit by thermocompression

A monopole phased array thermotherapy applicator radiating radiofrequency energy for inducing a temperature rise in a target within a body includes a plurality of monopole elements each for transmitting electric-field radiation; a metallic waveguide with an RF reflecting ground plane surface with a plurality of circular holes for mounting the monopole elements where the metallic waveguide forms an aperture for receiving a body to be treated; a waveform generator providing a source of electric field coupled to each monopole radiating element through a respective phase and power weighting network; at least one electric field probe positioned on a skin surface of the body for detecting electric field radiation from the plurality of monopole elements; and a controller circuit coupled to the electric field probe received feedback signals to adjust the phase and power delivered to the plurality of monopole elements so that one or more adaptive nulls are formed on the surface of the body and a focus is formed at the target tissue to be treated with thermotherapy.

Monopole phased array thermotherapy applicator for deep tumor therapy

Improvements in safety and efficacy for externally focused adaptive phased array microwave thermotherapy (hyperthermia) for treatment of cancer and benign conditions of an organ or an appendage are described. In order to reduce blood flow thereby accumulating additional equivalent thermal dose following the step of heating an organ or appendage by irradiating microwaves at the organ or appendage, the step of compressing the organ or appendage following the heating step is added to thermotherapy treatment. In a preferred embodiment, the organ is the prostate and periodic prostate compression is employed to reduce the prostate blood flow thereby allowing chemotherapy, thermosensitive liposome-encapsulated chemotherapy, or gene therapy to accumulate in the prostate region during thermotherapy. Doppler ultrasound imaging may be used to measure tumor blood flow rate and then serve as real-time feedback to assist in adjusting the amount of balloon catheter inflation and to assess damage to the tumor vasculature during the treatment.

System and method for heating the prostate gland to treat and prevent the growth and spread of prostate tumor

A method and apparatus that increases safety when employing externally focused adaptive phased array microwave thermotherapy (hyperthermia) for breast cancer treatment include microwave absorbing pads and metallic shielding to prevent undesired or stray surface tissue heating and to cushion the breast from mechanical pressure during breast compression. The microwave absorbing pads are attached on the top of the microwave waveguide thermotherapy applicators and on top of the breast compression paddles. A metallic-shielding strip mounted across the top portion of the microwave applicator aperture acts to block microwave radiation from illuminating the base of the breast and chest wall area. The patient treatment table utilizes a metallic shield to shield the body from stray microwave radiation. Combined E-field and temperature sensors within a single catheter are used to require only a single minimally invasive skin entry point for E-field focusing and measurement of the tumor temperature. Breast compression is maintained for a period of time following microwave-induced heating to accumulate additional equivalent thermal dose. Treatments incorporating the safety improvements include thermotherapy for early-stage breast carcinomas, locally advanced breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in-situ, and benign breast lesions.

Method for improved safety in externally focused microwave thermotherapy for treating breast cancer

A method for treating cancerous or benign conditions of a body or organ employs selective irradiation of the body tissue with energy. The method includes the steps of monitoring temperatures of the skin surface adjacent the body, positioning at least one energy applicator around the body, delivering energy to the at least one energy applicator to selectively irradiate the body tissue with energy and treat at least one of cancerous and benign conditions of the body, adjusting the level of power to be delivered to the at least one energy applicator during treatment based on the monitored skin temperatures, monitoring the energy delivered to the at least one energy applicator, determining total energy delivered to the at least one energy applicator, and completing the treatment when the desired total energy dose has been delivered by the at least one energy applicator to the body.

Thermotherapy method for treatment and prevention of cancer in male and female patients and cosmetic ablation of tissue

A method for treating cancerous or benign conditions of an organ includes the steps of inserting an E-field probe sensor to a depth in the organ tissue, monitoring temperatures of the skin surface adjacent the organ, positioning two or more energy applicators around the organ, setting the initial relative phase delivered to each energy applicator to focus the energy at the E-field probe positioned in the organ tissue, delivering energy to the applicators to selectively irradiate the organ tissue, adjusting the power level to be delivered to each applicator during treatment based on the monitored skin temperatures, monitoring the energy delivered to the applicators, determining total energy delivered to the applicators and displaying the total energy in real time during the treatment, and completing the treatment when the desired total energy dose has been delivered by the energy applicators to the organ. Either focused or non-focused may be employed.

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Silver Spring, MD, United States of America

John Mon