An intravascular catheter for nerve activity ablation and/or sensing includes one or more needles advanced through supported guide tubes (needle guiding elements) which expand to contact the interior surface of the wall of the renal artery or other vessel of a human body allowing the needles to be advanced though the vessel wall into the extra-luminal tissue including the media, adventitia and periadvential space. The catheter also includes structures which provide radial and lateral support to the guide tubes so that the guide tubes open uniformly and maintain their position against the interior surface of the vessel wall as the sharpened needles are advanced to penetrate into the vessel wall. Electrodes at the distal ends of the guide tubes allow sensing of nerve activity before and after attempted renal denervation. In a combination embodiment ablative energy or fluid is delivered to ablate nerves outside of the media.

There is disclosed a method of treating affected external or surface tissue comprising the steps of providing a source of affected external or surface tissue; generating a source of microwave energy; transmitting said microwave energy into said affected external or surface tissues; exposing said affected external and surface tissues to said microwave energy to raise the local temperature to thereby ablate, remove, coagulate or otherwise alter said affected external and surface tissues. There is also disclosed an apparatus for the treatment of affected external and surface tissues comprising a microwave energy source generator, a means to transmit said microwave energy into said affected external or surface tissues, a means to control the exposure of said affected external and surface tissues to said microwave energy to raise the local temperature to thereby ablate, remove, coagulate or otherwise alter said affected external and surface tissues; and optionally a means to control the repetition of steps a) to d) multiple times until the ablation, removal, coagulation or otherwise alteration is complete, the period between each sequence of steps a) to d) being optionally cooled, and the location of said concentrated electric field being varied.

There is disclosed a method of treating affected external or surface tissue comprising the steps of providing a source of affected external or surface tissue; generating a source of microwave energy; transmitting said microwave energy into said affected external or surface tissues; exposing said affected external and surface tissues to said microwave energy to raise the local temperature to thereby ablate, remove, coagulate or otherwise alter said affected external and surface tissues. There is also disclosed an apparatus for the treatment of affected external and surface tissues comprising a microwave energy source generator, a means to transmit said microwave energy into said affected external or surface tissues, a means to control the exposure of said affected external and surface tissues to said microwave energy to raise the local temperature to thereby ablate, remove, coagulate or otherwise alter said affected external and surface tissues; and optionally a means to control the repetition of steps a) to d) multiple times until the ablation, removal, coagulation or otherwise alteration is complete, the period between each sequence of steps a) to d) being optionally cooled, and the location of said concentrated electric field being varied.

Transducer-based systems and methods may be configured to display a graphical representation of a transducer-based device, the graphical representation including graphical elements corresponding to transducers of the transducer-based device, and also including between graphical elements respectively associated with a set of the transducers and respectively associated with a region of space between the transducers of the transducer-based device. Selection of graphical elements and/or between graphical elements can cause activation of the set of transducers associated with the selected elements. Transducer activation characteristics, such as initiation time, activation duration, activation sequence, and energy delivery characteristics, can vary based on numerous factors. Visual characteristics of graphical elements and between graphical elements can change based on an activation-status of the corresponding transducers. Activation requests for a set of transducers can be denied if it is determined that a transducer in the set of transducers is unacceptable for activation.

Transducer-based systems and methods may be configured to display a graphical representation of a transducer-based device, the graphical representation including graphical elements corresponding to transducers of the transducer-based device, and also including between graphical elements respectively associated with a set of the transducers and respectively associated with a region of space between the transducers of the transducer-based device. Selection of graphical elements and/or between graphical elements can cause activation of the set of transducers associated with the selected elements. Transducer activation characteristics, such as initiation time, activation duration, activation sequence, and energy delivery characteristics, can vary based on numerous factors. Visual characteristics of graphical elements and between graphical elements can change based on an activation-status of the corresponding transducers. Activation requests for a set of transducers can be denied if it is determined that a transducer in the set of transducers is unacceptable for activation.

A method for killing or damaging cancerous cells in a living body comprising introducing glucose or other organic material as a biasing component into heating cancerous cells for purposes of destroying the cancerous cells with a second method of heating, such as by bombardment of energy from an external electromagnetic source, so as to raise the temperature of the tumor or cancerous cells to a degree that they are damaged or expire.

A method for killing or damaging cancerous cells in a living body comprising introducing glucose or other organic material as a biasing component into heating cancerous cells for purposes of destroying the cancerous cells with a second method of heating, such as by bombardment of energy from an external electromagnetic source, so as to raise the temperature of the tumor or cancerous cells to a degree that they are damaged or expire.

The apparatus includes a moxibustion container assembly for localized application of therapeutic herbal smoke originated from gas-producing combustible material, an air pump connectable to the moxibustion container assembly via an inlet tube to supply air to the moxibustion container assembly, a vacuum pump connectable to the moxibustion container assembly via an outlet tube to create a partial vacuum to draw air from the moxibustion container assembly and exhaust air thereafter, and an air purifier connected to the vacuum pump to remove the contaminants in the air exhausted from the vacuum pump.

The apparatus includes a moxibustion container assembly for localized application of therapeutic herbal smoke originated from gas-producing combustible material, an air pump connectable to the moxibustion container assembly via an inlet tube to supply air to the moxibustion container assembly, a vacuum pump connectable to the moxibustion container assembly via an outlet tube to create a partial vacuum to draw air from the moxibustion container assembly and exhaust air thereafter, and an air purifier connected to the vacuum pump to remove the contaminants in the air exhausted from the vacuum pump.

An instrument and method for tissue thermotherapy including an inductive heating means to generate a vapor phase media that is used for interstitial, intraluminal, intracavity or topical tissue treatment. In one method, the vapor phase media is propagated from a probe outlet to provide a controlled vapor-to-liquid phase change in an interface with tissue to thereby apply ablative thermal energy delivery.