A balloon catheter is used in a closed-loop heat exchange system for manipulating the temperature of a patient. The balloon catheter is positioned in the stomach of the patient, and then expanded with a heat exchange fluid delivered through a lumen formed in the shaft of the catheter. The balloon catheter comes into contact with the wall of the stomach, and the stomach substantially conforms around the expanded balloon catheter. The heat exchange fluid is allowed to flow continuously into and out of the balloon catheter. Heat is exchanged between the balloon catheter and the stomach so as to controllably alter the temperature of at least a portion of the patient. Anti-shivering mechanisms and automatic control based on temperature feedback from the patient may be used in connection with the heat exchange system.

Systems, methods, and devices for treating a subject are described herein. In some embodiments, an applicator for selectively affecting a subject's subcutaneous tissue is provided. The applicator can include: a housing; a treatment cup mounted in the housing, wherein the treatment cup defines a tissue-receiving cavity and includes a temperature-controlled surface; at least one thermal device coupled to the treatment cup and configured to receive energy via a flexible connector coupled to the applicator and to cool the temperature-controlled surface; an at least one vacuum port coupled to the treatment cup and configured to provide a vacuum to draw the subject's tissue into the tissue-receiving cavity and against at least a portion of a treatment area of the temperature-controlled surface to selectively damage and/or reduce the subject's subcutaneous tissue.

Improved systems and methods for extracorporeal blood temperature control and patient temperature control, e.g., for induced hypothermia and optional normothermia, may include or otherwise employ a heat exchanger for cooling/warming of a fluid, a thermal exchange module having fluidly isolated first and second volumes, and a fluid pump for circulating the fluid through the heat exchanger and the first volume of the thermal exchange module. A blood pump may be provided for the flow of blood through the second volume of the thermal exchange module, and a first controller may be provided for providing output signals for use in operation of the heat exchanger to selectively control thermal exchange between the fluid circulated through the first volume of the thermal exchange module and the blood flowed through the second volume of the thermal exchange module, thereby providing for selective cooling/warming of the blood. A multi lumen catheter may be utilized for the flow of blood from a patient vascular system to the second volume of the thermal exchange module, and for flow of blood from the second volume of the thermal exchange module back to the patient vascular system. The circulated fluid may be optionally circulated through a patient contact pad(s) for contact cooling/warming, wherein patient cooling/warming may be provided in a first mode via blood cooling/warming in the thermal exchange module, and patient cooling/warming may be provided in a second mode via thermal exchange by the contact pad(s).

Disclosed is a system which employs a cooling or heating pad which is preferably rechargeable with hot or cold temperatures at an intended area of the body. The pad includes a highly temperature-conductive or temperature-retentive material which can be cooled or heated using a portable source of heat or cold material delivered to the pad by a removable delivery conduit. Valves can be included to regulate flow of the cooling or heating material from the source to the pad. The system can also include a dual-chambered canister for containing two different media for heating, cooling or for alternating heating and cooling the pad.

A heat exchanger is disclosed for causing cryolysis of adipose tissue of a human tongue. The heat exchanger includes a body having cooling channels for circulating fluids therein. The body forms a contact surface that contacts a portion of the dorsal surface of the tongue and a portion of the base of the tongue. The heat exchanger includes a pair of side walls extending from the body and forming a pair of side contact surfaces that are dimensioned so that they contact the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the tongue in a manner so as to constrict the tongue when the contact surface is in contact with the tongue. A method of treatment for apnea using the heat exchanger and/or administering a chemical adipolysis formulation/vasoconstriction agent is also disclosed.

An intravascular catheter site pad is provided for thermal exchange (e.g. cooling) adjacent to a catheter introduction site (e.g. a catheter for the administration of a chemotherapeutic agent). The pad includes an opening defined by an opening edge that may be positioned about the catheter introduction site. The pad may further include a fluid containing layer and an inlet port and an outlet port for circulating fluid (e.g. cooled fluid) through the pad. The pad may be fluidly interconnected to a fluid conditioning unit to circulate fluid through the pad under negative pressure. The pad, system and an associated method may be employed to reduce tissue damage at an IV catheter introduction site.

The present disclosure provides a device and a method for cooling living tissues for a medical purpose and other purposes. The cooling device comprises: a container configured to accommodate a cooling medium and thermally coupled with the cooling medium by directly contacting the cooling medium; a cooling generator configured to be thermally coupled with the container by a direct contact and thereby to provide cooling energy to the cooling medium; and a heat sink dissipating heat from the cooling generator, the heat sing being configured to be spaced apart from the cooling generator and to be thermally coupled with the cooling generator without a direct contact with the cooling generator.

Disclosed are devices and methods for mitigating insulin resistance in a human subject by contacting one or more regions of the neck, the supraclavicular, and the interscapular regions of the human subject with a part of a cooling device, wherein the part of the cooling device has a temperature at about 15 or less Celsius degrees; cooling the one or more regions of the neck, the supraclavicular, and the interscapular regions of the human subject for a cooling period of at least 15 minutes; and performing previous two steps daily for about 14 or more days. The devices and methods may also be used to preventing, delaying or treating type 2 diabetes in a human subject or activating brown fat without incurring a sympathetic nerve-mediated cold feeling in a human subject.

A heat exchanger cap, and method of manufacture of a heat exchanger cap configured to conform to a human head the cap comprising a first element for covering one side of the head; a second element for covering the other side of the head; and an intermediate joining element joined to, and which spaces apart, the first element and second element. Each of the elements define a single passageway for the passage of fluid through the cap. Each of the elements are provided with a flow interface in the region where the elements are joined. The flow interface defines an inlet for the passage of fluid into the passageway of one of the elements, and an outlet for the passage of fluid from the passageway out of the same element.

A neuromodulation catheter includes an elongate shaft and a neuromodulation element. The shaft includes two or more first cut shapes and two or more second cut shapes along a helical path extending around a longitudinal axis of the shaft. The first cut shapes are configured to at least partially resist deformation in response to longitudinal compression and tension on the shaft and torsion on the shaft in a first circumferential direction. The second cut shapes are configured to at least partially resist deformation in response to longitudinal compression on the shaft and torsion on the shaft in both first and second opposite circumferential directions.