A medical probe device comprises a catheter having a stylet guide housing with one or more stylet ports in a side wall thereof and a stylet guide for directing a flexible stylet outward through the stylet port and through intervening tissue at a preselected, adjustable angle to a target tissue. The total catheter assembly includes a stylet guide lumen communicating with the stylet port and a stylet positioned in said stylet guide lumen for longitudinal movement from the port through intervening tissue to a target tissue. The stylet can be an electrical conductor enclosed within a non-conductive layer, the electrical conductor being a radiofrequency electrode. Preferably, the non-conductive layer is a sleeve which is axially moveable on the electrical conductor to expose a selected portion of the electrical conductor surface in the target tissue. The stylet can also be a microwave antenna. The stylet can also be a hollow tube for delivering treatment fluid to the target tissue. It can also include a fiber optic cable for laser treatment. The catheter can include one or more inflatable balloons located adjacent to the stylet port for anchoring the catheter or dilation. Ultrasound transponders and temperature sensors can be attached to the probe end and/or stylet. The stylet guide can define a stylet path from an axial orientation in the catheter through a curved portion to a lateral orientation at the stylet port.

Medical probe device and method

Magnetic nanomaterials for hyperthermia-based therapy and controlled drug delivery

Loss processes in magnetic nanoparticles are discussed with respect to optimization of the specific loss power (SLP) for application in tumour hyperthermia. Several types of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles representative for different preparation methods (wet chemical precipitation, grinding, bacterial synthesis, magnetic size fractionation) are the subject of a comparative study of structural and magnetic properties. Since the specific loss power useful for hyperthermia is restricted by serious limitations of the alternating field amplitude and frequency, the effects of the latter are investigated experimentally in detail. The dependence of the SLP on the mean particle size is studied over a broad size range from superparamagnetic up to multidomain particles, and guidelines for achieving large SLP under the constraints valid for the field parameters are derived. Particles with the mean size of 18 nm having a narrow size distribution proved particularly useful. In particular, very high heating power may be delivered by bacterial magnetosomes, the best sample of which showed nearly 1 kW g −1 at 410 kHz and 10 kA m −1 . This value may even be exceeded by metallic magnetic particles, as indicated by measurements on cobalt particles.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0953-8984/18/38/S26/pdf

Magnetic particle hyperthermia : nanoparticle magnetism and materials development for cancer therapy

A multiple antenna ablation apparatus includes an electromagnetic energy source, a trocar including a distal end, and a hollow lumen extending along a longitudinal axis of the trocar, and a multiple antenna ablation device with three or more antennas. The antennas are initially positioned in the trocar lumen as the trocar is introduced through tissue. At a selected tissue site the antennas are deployable from the trocar lumen in a lateral direction relative to the longitudinal axis. Each of the deployed antennas has an electromagnetic energy delivery surface of sufficient size to, (i) create a volumetric ablation between the deployed antennas, and (ii) the volumetric ablation is achieved without impeding out any of the deployed antennas when 5 to 200 watts of electromagnetic energy is delivered from the electromagnetic energy source to the multiple antenna ablation device. At least one cable couples the multiple antenna ablation device to the electromagnetic energy source.

Multiple antenna ablation apparatus and method

A tissue ablation apparatus includes a delivery catheter with distal and proximal ends. A handle is attached to the proximal end of the delivery catheter. At least partially positioned in the delivery catheter is an electrode deployment device. The electrode deployment device includes a plurality of retractable electrodes. Each electrode has a non-deployed state when it is positioned in the delivery catheter. Additionally, each electrode has a distended deployed state when it is advanced out of the delivery catheter distal end. The deployed electrodes define an ablation volume. Each deployed electrode has a first section with a first radius of curvature. The first section is located near the distal end of the delivery catheter. A second section of the deployed electrode extends beyond the first section, and has a second radius of curvature, or a substantially linear geometry.

Multiple electrode ablation apparatus

Induction heating can be utilized to cause necrosis of neoplasm as a result of hyperthermia by a process involving the injection of particles having hysteresis heating characteristics into tissue either within or in close proximity to the neoplasm and then subjecting these particles to an alternating magnetic field sufficient to cause hysteresis heating. The frequency of the field is preferably sufficiently low so as to minimize eddy current and dielectric heating. The particles used are preferably initially located within a biologically inert liquid carrier which will facilitate the insertion of the particles within the body and which will automatically become non-liquid within the body so as to hold the particles in place. The carrier may contain radiopaque material to enhance its visualization under radiographic examination. The actual heating is preferably carried out by positioning either the entire patient or the affected portion of the patient's body through a series of axially aligned, parallel, liquid cooled coils. Only one of these coils is connected to a power supply.

Induction heating method for use in causing necrosis of neoplasm

Induction heating can be utilized to cause necrosis of neoplasm as a result of hyperthermia by a process involving the injection of particles having hysteresis heating characteristics into tissue either within or in close proximity to the neoplasm and then subjecting these particles to an alternating magnetic field sufficient to cause hysteresis heating. The frequency of the field is preferably sufficiently low so as to minimize eddy current and dielectric heating. The particles used are preferably initially located within a biologically inert liquid carrier which will facilitate the insertion of the particles within the body and which will automatically become non-liquid within the body so as to hold the particles in place. The actual heating is preferably carried out by positioning either the entire patient or the affected portion of the patient's body through a series of axially aligned, parallel, liquid cooled coils. Only one of these coils is connected to a power supply.

Induction heating apparatus for use in causing necrosis of neoplasm

To circumvent the high temperatures required in a magnetohydrodynamic power conversion system employing a plasma as the conductor, it is proposed that a liquid metal be employed as the conductor, the metal being accelerated by the vapor of a second fluid in a two-phase nozzle and extracted by a liquid-gas separator. It is estimated that a cycle efficiency of 10% is attainable at a radiator-toreactor temperature ratio of 0.7. The specific weight of such a two- fluid MHD conversion system would be about the same as that of a turboelectric system. (auth)

Two-fluid magnetohydrodynamic cycle for nuclear-electric power conversion

We describe the process by which the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) Cryogenic Telescope Assembly (CTA) was brought into focus after arrival of the spacecraft in orbit. The ground rules of the mission did not allow us to make a conventional focus sweep. A strategy was developed to determine the focus position through a program of passive imaging during the observatory cool-down time period. A number of analytical diagnostic tools were developed to facilitate evaluation of the state of the CTA focus. Initially, these tools were used to establish the in-orbit focus position. These tools were then used to evaluate the effects of an initial small exploratory move that verified the health and calibration of the secondary mirror focus mechanism. A second large move of the secondary mirror was then commanded to bring the telescope into focus. We present images that show the CTA Point Spread Function (PSF) at different channel wavelengths and demonstrate that the telescope achieved diffraction limited performance at a wavelength of 5.5 μm, somewhat better than the level-one requirement.

/pdf/the-state-of-the-focus-and-image-quality-of-the-spitzer-540rky6esa.pdf

The state of the focus and image quality of the Spitzer Space Telescope as measured in orbit

Performance characteristics of single wavelength liquid metal MHD induction generator with end loss compensation, determining electrical losses and power production

David G. Elliott

Papers

Induction heating method for use in causing necrosis of neoplasm

Induction heating apparatus for use in causing necrosis of neoplasm

Two-fluid magnetohydrodynamic cycle for nuclear-electric power conversion

The state of the focus and image quality of the Spitzer Space Telescope as measured in orbit

Performance characteristics of a single- wavelength liquid-metal MHD induction generator with end-loss compensation.