Apparatus and methods for deactivating bronchial nerves extending along a bronchial branch of a mammalian subject to treat asthma and related conditions. An ultrasonic transducer (11) is inserted into the bronchus as, for example, by advancing the distal end of a catheter (10) bearing the transducer into the bronchial section to be treated. The ultrasonic transducer emits focused ultrasound so as to heat tissues throughout circular impact volume (13) as, for example, at least about 1 cm.sup.3 encompassing the bronchus to a temperature sufficient to inactivate nerve conduction but insufficient to cause rapid ablation or necrosis of the tissues. The treatment can be performed without locating or focusing on individual bronchial nerves.

The present invention relies on a controller-transmitter device to deliver ultrasound energy into cardiac tissue in order to directly improve cardiac function and/or to energize one or more implanted receiver-stimulator devices that transduce the ultrasound energy to electrical energy to perform excitatory and/or non-excitatory treatments for heart failure. The acoustic energy can be applied as a single burst or as multiple bursts.

A process for preventing or treating myopia includes applying a pulsed energy, such as a pulsed laser beam, to tissue of an eye having myopia or a risk of having myopia. The source of pulsed energy has energy parameters including wavelength or frequency, duty cycle and pulse train duration, which are selected so as to raise an eye tissue temperature up to eleven degrees Celsius to achieve therapeutic or prophylactic effect, such as stimulating heat shock protein activation in the eye tissue. The average temperature rise of the eye tissue over several minutes is maintained at or below a predetermined level so as not to permanently damage the eye tissue.

An apparatus for treating or preventing a valvular disease comprises: a ultrasound probe located externally to a heart of patient, able to produce ultrasound waves focused inside the heart and suitable to generate, at a focal spot, a pressure sufficient to result in cavitation, an imaging device for mapping in real time a treatment region of a cardiac valve of the patient, the treatment region comprising at least one leaflet of the cardiac valve, a controller configured for driving the ultrasound probe to emit a sequence of focused ultrasound waves, the controller being further configured for steering the focused ultrasound waves so as to scan the entire treatment region to soften the tissues of the treatment region. A method for treating or preventing valvular disease, carried out using the apparatus is also provided.

A method of diagnosis and treatment of tumors using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound is provided. The method of diagnosing the presence of a tumor in a patient comprises the steps of subjecting a tumor to high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to cause the tumor cells to release cellular material and evaluating the cellular material for a tumor marker. The method of treating a tumor in a patient can also comprise the step of subjecting a tumor to high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to provoke an immune response.

A device for inducing production of tears may include a body extending from a proximal end to a distal end. The body may be configured for insertion through a puncta of a subject. The device also may include a stimulus delivery mechanism positioned between the proximal end and the distal end and an induction coil operably coupled to the stimulus delivery mechanism. Further, the device may include an external controller wirelessly coupled to the induction coil for inductively transferring energy to the induction coil.

A device for inducing production of tears may include a body extending from a proximal end to a distal end. The body may be configured for insertion through a puncta of a subject. The device also may include a stimulus delivery mechanism positioned between the proximal end and the distal end and an induction coil operably coupled to the stimulus delivery mechanism. Further, the device may include an external controller wirelessly coupled to the induction coil for inductively transferring energy to the induction coil.

Various approaches for microbubble-enhanced ultrasound treatment of target tissue include retrieving a treatment plan stored in memory; causing administration of an exogenous agent in accordance with the treatment plan; causing, in accordance with the treatment plan, an ultrasound transducer to transmit ultrasound waves to the target tissue and generate a focus therein in the presence of administered exogenous agent; receiving, from a monitoring system, a measured parameter value indicating a treatment condition in response to administration of the exogenous agent and transmission of the ultrasound waves during treatment; and adjusting the treatment plan based at least in part on the measured parameter value.

This disclosure describes devices, systems, and methods related to therapeutic ultrasound. An exemplary system includes a transducer configured to emit therapy ultrasound waves towards a therapy site and an ultrasound imaging device configured to emit plane wave ultrasound waves towards the therapy site. The system further includes a controller coupled to the transducer and the ultrasound imaging device. The controller is configured to send an activation signal to the transducer and send an activation signal to the ultrasound imaging device. The controller is further configured to receive image data from the ultrasound imaging device and generate bubble cloud image data based on the received image data.

Methods of using pulsed focused ultrasound (pFUS) therapy to treat pancreatic disorders such as type 1 diabetes, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer are provided. The methods utilize pulsed focused ultrasound (pFUS) therapy either by itself or in combination with islet transplantation and/or stem cell therapy to promote regeneration of damaged pancreatic tissue, increase insulin secretion in response to glucose, or improve engraftment and revascularization of transplanted islets or beta cells. Additionally, methods of using pFUS are provided for modulating paracrine secretion in the pancreas, islets, beta cells, or stem cells, or at a transplantation site to therapeutically alter levels of various factors including, without limitation, cytokines, growth factors, angiogenic factors, and cell adhesion molecules.