The present invention relates to an acoustic window (1) suitable for implantation at an opening in a patient's skull (4), said acoustic window (1) being intended to cooperate with an external ultrasound probe (2) for the emission of ultrasound waves through the acoustic window (1), remarkable in that the acoustic window comprises a plate (11) including a plurality of through-holes (12), the distance (P) of the through-holes (12) being less than twice the wavelength of the ultrasound waves emitted by the external ultrasound probe (2).

Various approaches to generating and maintaining an ultrasound focus at a target region include configuring a controller to cause transmission of treatment ultrasound pulses from a transducer having multiple transducer elements; cause the transducer to transmit focusing ultrasound pulses to the target region and generate an acoustic reflector therein; measure reflections of the focusing ultrasound pulses from the acoustic reflector; based at least in part on the measured reflections, adjust a parameter value associated with one or more transducer elements so as to maintain and/or improve the ultrasound focus at the target region.

A handheld acoustic shock wave or pressure pulse applicator device has a body structure and an applicator head. The body structure has a proximal end and a distal end with a longitudinal axis extending between the ends. The applicator head is at the distal end. the head emits pressure pulses or shock waves at an inclined angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the body structure. The applicator head has a balloon or lens or membrane through which the emitted pressure pulses or shock waves pass. The lens or membrane is configured to be coupled directly or indirectly to an exposed soft tissue surface of a palate inside a patient's mouth to direct emitted pressure pulses or shock waves to the brain. The applicator device can be configured with the inclined obtuse angle fixed between 150 degrees and 90 degrees or can be adjustable between 180 degrees and 90 degrees.

A device for providing a magnetic treatment by evoking muscle contraction by a time-varying magnetic field and providing a RF treatment by heating biological structure. The device includes an applicator having an RF electrode and a magnetic field generating device. The device may also include a main unit, a human machine interface, and a control unit. The control unit adjusts a signal provided to the RF electrode and creates an RF circuit, and also adjusts the signal provided to the magnetic field generating device and creates a magnetic circuit electrically insulated from the RF circuit. The RF circuit may include a power source and a power amplifier, and the magnetic circuit may include an energy storage to supply the magnetic field generating device with electric current.

The utility of intrathecal delivery is limited by the poor brain and spinal cord parenchymal uptake of intrathecally delivered agents. A simple noninvasive transcranial ultrasound protocol is provided that significantly increases the brain parenchymal uptake of intrathecally administered drugs and antibodies. This protocol of transcranial ultrasound can accelerate glymphatic fluid transport from the cisternal space into the parenchymal compartment. The low intensity and noninvasive approach of ultrasound in this protocol underscores the ready path to clinical translation of this technique. This low-intensity transcranial ultrasound protocol can be used to directly bypass the blood-brain barrier for whole-brain delivery of a variety of agents. Additionally, this protocol is useful as a means to probe the causal role of the glymphatic system in the variety of disease and physiologic processes to which it has been correlated.

The present specification discloses a neuromodulation system comprising a transcranially mounted neuromodulation device and a stimulation control computing environment. The disclosed neuromodulation device comprising at least one ultrasound transducer and at least one EEG electrode and the disclosed stimulation control computing environment comprises a stimulation control unit and offline computing device, the disclosed stimulation control unit including associated systems and methods for controlling the neuromodulation device functionality using acoustic simulations performed on brain image data as well as methods and uses of such neuromodulation systems in modulating brain activity using focused ultrasound stimulation of the thalamus and thalamic sub regions during certain phases of slow wave brain oscillations in order to treat various neural-based disorders or conditions including sleep disorders.

Systems and methods are provided for performing transcranial diagnostic procedures using a transcranial ultrasound transducer array. The array elements are positioned and oriented such that far field regions respectively associated therewith spatially overlap within the brain of a patient. The array elements may be oriented approximately normal to the skull, permitting efficient coupling of ultrasound energy into the brain. The array elements are controlled to generate ultrasound pulses, where the timing of the pulses is controlled, based on registration between the array elements and volumetric image data, such that ultrasound energy is focused at a target within spatially overlapping far fields of the array elements. The transcranial ultrasound transducer array elements may be positioned and oriented relative to the skull such that their respective ultrasound beams are focused within the skull and diverging with the brain.

Methods and apparatus are provided for treating hypertension, e.g., via a pulsed electric field, via a stimulation electric field, via localized drug delivery, via high frequency ultrasound, via thermal techniques, etc. Such neuromodulation may effectuate irreversible electroporation or electrofusion, necrosis and/or inducement of apoptosis, alteration of gene expression, action potential attenuation or blockade, changes in cytokine up-regulation and other conditions in target neural fibers. In some embodiments, neuromodulation is applied to neural fibers that contribute to renal function. In some embodiments, such neuromodulation is performed in a bilateral fashion. Bilateral renal neuromodulation may provide enhanced therapeutic effect in some patients as compared to renal neuromodulation performed unilaterally, i.e., as compared to renal neuromodulation performed on neural tissue innervating a single kidney.

A method to apply a nerve inhibiting cloud surrounding a blood vessel includes creating a treatment plan, wherein the treatment plan prescribes application of the nerve inhibiting cloud towards at least a majority portion of a circumference of a blood vessel wall, and applying the nerve inhibiting cloud towards the majority portion of the circumference of the blood vessel wall for a time sufficient to inhibit a function of a nerve that surrounds the blood vessel wall.

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.