Embodiments of a dermatological cosmetic treatment and/or imaging system and method adapted to alter placement and position of multiple (e.g., two or more) cosmetic treatment zones in tissue from ultrasound beams from a transducer, simultaneous multi-focus therapy at multiple depths, and/or dithering ultrasound beams from a transducer to alter placement and position of multiple cosmetic treatment zones in tissue. The system can include a hand wand, a removable transducer module, and a control module. In some embodiments, the cosmetic treatment system may be used in various cosmetic procedures.

A multi-angular ultrasound device. Multi-angular ablation patterns are achieved by a catheter-based ultrasound transducer having a plurality of transducer zones. A multi-chambered balloon is positioned on the catheter.

A probe for ultrasound treatment of skin laxity are provided. Systems and methods can include ultrasound imaging of the region of interest for localization of the treatment area, delivering ultrasound energy at a depth and pattern to achieve the desired therapeutic effects, and/or monitoring the treatment area to assess the results and/or provide feedback. In an embodiment, a treatment system and method can be configured for producing arrays of sub-millimeter and larger zones of thermal ablation to treat the epidermal, superficial dermal, mid-dermal or deep dermal components of tissue.

The invention relates to a method for producing a lens for an ultrasound apparatus, as well as to an apparatus comprising the lens. The method comprises choosing a source point, providing a treatment volume situated inside a bone tissue model, providing a plurality of nodes distributed inside the treatment volume, and simulating the emission of a spherical wave from each of the nodes. Thus, a simulated wave front is created, in which each spherical wave has an amplitude and a phase, there being at least two nodes with different amplitudes and/or phases. The simulated wave front is received on a receiving surface. On the basis of the processed results, a holographic lens surface is designed, which can generate a wave pattern equivalent to the simulated wave.

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.

Various approaches for enhancing treatment of target tissue using a source of focused ultrasound while limiting damage to non-target tissue include selecting a frequency of ultrasound waves transmitted from the source of focused ultrasound for generating a focus in the target tissue; providing microbubbles having the first size distribution such that at least 50% of the microbubbles have a radius smaller than a critical radius corresponding to a resonance frequency matching the selected frequency of ultrasound waves; and applying the ultrasound waves at the selected frequency to treat the target tissue.

A high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system (100,400) for selectively sealing a vessel network (360) in a liver includes a generator (110,410,420) configured to generate and supply electric power, and an acoustic assembly (200,130,150) configured to receive the supplied electric power. The acoustic assembly (200,130,150) includes a first transducer (310,430) configured to generate vibrations having a first frequency, and a second transducer (320,440) configured to generate vibrations having a second frequency. When a first focal point of the generated vibrations having the first frequency and a second focal point of the generated vibrations having the second frequency are aligned within a focused region (350), a group of vessels (360) at the focused region (350) are selectively sealed.

Systems and methods for non-invasive fat reduction can include targeting a region of interest below a surface of skin, which contains fat and delivering ultrasound energy to the region of interest. The ultrasound energy generates a thermal lesion with said ultrasound energy on a fat cell. The lesion can create an opening in the surface of the fat cell, which allows the draining of a fluid out of the fat cell and through the opening. In addition, by applying ultrasound energy to fat cells to increase the temperature to between 43 degrees and 49 degrees, cell apoptosis can be realized, thereby resulting in reduction of fat.

Methods for treating skin and subcutaneous tissue with energy such as ultrasound energy are disclosed. In various embodiments, ultrasound energy is applied at a region of interest to affect tissue by cutting, ablating, micro-ablating, coagulating, or otherwise affecting the subcutaneous tissue to conduct numerous procedures that are traditionally done invasively in a non-invasive manner. Methods of lifting sagging tissue are described.

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.