Dornier Medizintechnik Gmbh

Wolfgang Erhardt

Othmar Wess

Reiner Groezinger

Kai Isdebski

Manfred Windsheimer

A medical treatment station which includes a medical treatment device such as a lithotripter including a liquid filled rotational ellipsoid as shockwave focussing chamber with a circular periphery and boundary and a liquid filled cushion e.g. bellows for coupling the treatment device to the body of a patient, the station further includes a rest or support for such a patient and structure for moving the treatment device and the rest in relation to each other, is improved by means a of safety device which includes a hollow, fluid-filled, elastic hose disposed along the periphery of the ellipsoid and inside the cushion; a pressure sensing transducer is coupled to the hose for sensing pressure therein including particularly any pressure increase if the periphery of the ellipsoid impacts upon another object such as said rest or support or the patient thereon so that the moving can safely be stopped.

Lithotripter including a safety device

The production of shock-waves is triggered by using the cushion that couples acoustically and, incidentally physically, a shock-wave generator to the body of a living being; any pressure variations in the cushion are detected at a particular phase and used for triggering the generation of shock-waves. The pressure level in the cushion is kept constant, on a long term-basis, and at a level about which breath-induced pressure variations occur.

Triggering therapeutic shock waves

A membrane is coupled to the skin of a human being, there being a gel layer provided between the membrane and the skin, the apparatus comprises a wiping structure movably mounted in a frame, one side of the membrane facing away from the skin and locally and progressively the membrane is forced against the gel layer and the skin so that progressively air bubbles in the gel layer are driven out of that layer and the layer is interposed bubblefree between the skin and the membrane. The wiper may swivel or roll; there may be plural wiper blades.

Coupling a membrane to the skin of a human being

The body of a patient is gaplessly coupled to the membrane of therapeutic equipment through a gel layer; a gel releasing bag is placed upon the membrane and the membrane is moved towards the body; subsequently, the bag is removed from the gap that forms between the skin of the patient and the membrane whereby gel emerges from one or several openings, filling the gap completely with gel as the bag is squeezed and removed.

Growing community of inventors

Fuerstenfeldbruck, Germany

Wolfgang Erhardt