Methods of treating the skin and in particular removing pigment from a tattoo are provided. In preferred embodiments, a piezoelectric transducer is placed at a plurality of locations above the skin and focused acoustic waves at 7 MHz or more are transmitted into the skin. The focal point of the focused acoustic waves is between 0.1 mm and 5 mm below the surface of the skin. The design of the piezoelectric transducer along with the frequency of operation are carefully chosen to create points of treatment with a desired size and shape. The correct amount of energy is supplied to the points of treatment to produce a lesion of a desired size and shape. The lesions are spaced and located to effect the treatment of the skin.

Apparatus is provided for ablating cardiac tissue of a subject. The apparatus comprises an inflatable element, configured to be transthoracically placed within a pericardial region of the subject and a reflection-facilitation element, configured to deliver a fluid to the pericardial region, such that a portion of the fluid is disposed within the inflatable element, and another portion of the fluid is disposed outside of the inflatable element and inside the pericardial region. The apparatus additionally comprises at least one ultrasound transducer, configured to be transcatheterally placed in a heart chamber of the subject, and to apply ultrasound energy such that at least a portion of the applied energy is reflected by the fluid. Other embodiments are also described.

Various devices related to a therapeutic ultrasound device for use during a medical procedure to cauterize tissue are disclosed. The therapeutic ultrasound device can include an inner tube assembly and an outer tube assembly. The device can further include a tissue engagement assembly that is secured to the distal end of the inner tube and the distal end of the outer tube. The tissue engagement assembly includes a plurality of transducers configured to provide therapeutic ultrasound. The device can include a housing assembly that is secured to the proximal end of the inner tube and the proximal end of the outer tube. The housing assembly can include a handle configured to actuate the inner tube relative to the outer tube to engage and disengage the tissue engagement assembly.

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.

During a focused-ultrasound or other non-invasive treatment procedure, the motion of the treatment target or other object(s) of interest can be tracked in real time based on the comparison of treatment images against a reference library of images that have been acquired prior to treatment for the anticipated range of motion and have been processed to identify the location of the target or other object(s) therein.

A switched resonant power amplifier system for ultrasonic transducers is disclosed. The system includes an amplifier that receives and processes a driver output signal for generating a drive signal that is provided to an ultrasonic device for controlling output of the ultrasonic device. An output control circuit receives and processes a signal related to a feedback signal generated by the ultrasonic device and a divider reference signal, and generates a compensated clock signal that is adjusted for at least one of phase and frequency differences between the received feedback signal and the divider reference signal. A compensated drive circuit receives and processes the compensated clock signal for generating the divider reference signal, and for generating the driver output signal.

A transcranial ultrasonic stimulation headset includes a coupling system, one or more ultrasound transducers configured to generate and direct a first focused ultrasound beam at a region within a portion of a subject's brain, one or more sensors configured to measure a response from the portion of the subject's brain in response to the first focused ultrasound beam, and an electronic controller in communication with the one or more ultrasound transducers configured to dynamically adjust, based on the measured response from the portion of the subject's brain, a particular stimulation parameter for the one or more ultrasound transducers to generate and direct a second focused ultrasound beam at the region within a portion of the subject's brain.

An electronic memory is configured to store pre-recorded neurostimulation data comprising patterns of stimulation of a specified region of a subject's brain developed to recreate a response by one or more of a sensing organ or sensing organs, a vestibular system, and a memory of the subject. A focused ultrasound transducer arrangement is operably coupled to the electronic memory and comprises an array of ultrasound transducers. The focused ultrasound transducer arrangement is configured to deliver transcranial stimulation to the specified region of a person's brain using the pre-recorded neurostimulation data to recreate the response by one or more of the sensing organ or sensing organs, the vestibular system, and the memory of the subject. A support structure is configured for placement on or about a person's head. The support structure is configured to support at least the focused ultrasound transducer arrangement.

A support structure for placement on or about a subject's head supports an ultrasound transducer array configured to deliver transcranial stimulation to a specified region or regions of the subject's brain using pre-recorded neurostimulation data. The pre-recorded neurostimulation data comprises patterns of stimulation of the specified region or regions of the subject's brain or other person's brain developed to recreate a response by one or more of a sensing organ or sensing organs, a vestibular system, and a memory of the subject. A magnetic sensor array is mounted to the support structure and configured to transcranially sense local magnetic fields emanating from the specified region or regions of the subject's brain caused by delivery of the transcranial stimulation and produce contemporaneous neurostimulation data developed using the transcranially sensed local magnetic fields. Electronic circuitry comprising a controller is configured to control operation of the respective arrays.

The present invention relates to an implantable ultrasound (US) generating device for implantation within the vertebral column of a vertebrate subject, wherein the implantable US generating device comprises at least one US generating transducer suitable for emitting US beam(s) with an oblique orientation with respect to a longitudinal axis of a vertebral column.