The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 06, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 27, 2000
Steven R. Visuri, Livermore, CA (US);
Luiz B. Da Silva, Danville, CA (US);
Peter M. Celliers, Berkeley, CA (US);
Richard A. London, Orinda, CA (US);
Duncan J. Maitland, IV, Lafayette, CA (US);
Victor C. Esch, San Francisco, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
Partial or total occlusions of fluid passages within the human body are removed by positioning an array of optical fibers in the passage and directing treatment radiation pulses along the fibers, one at a time, to generate a shock wave and hydrodynamics flows that strike and emulsify the occlusions. A preferred application is the removal of blood clots (thrombin and embolic) from small cerebral vessels to reverse the effects of an ischemic stroke. The operating parameters and techniques are chosen to minimize the amount of heating of the fragile cerebral vessel walls occurring during this photo acoustic treatment. One such technique is the optical monitoring of the existence of hydrodynamics flow generating vapor bubbles when they are expected to occur and stopping the heat generating pulses propagated along an optical fiber that is not generating such bubbles.