93 results about "Solid tissue" patented technology

A medical device having enhanced ultrasonic visibility is provided. The device permits localized drug delivery, probe positioning, fluid drainage, biopsy, or ultrasound pulse delivery, through the real-time ultrasound monitoring of the needle tip position within a patient. The device permits controlled dispersion of a drug into solid tissue, the lodging of particles into solid tissue, and drug delivery into specific blood vessels. As a needle is inserted, a fluid that contrasts echogenically with the organ environment is injected into the patient. The fluid travels a brief distance before being slowed and stopped by the patient's tissue and this fluid flow will be detectable by ultrasound. The needle position during insertion will be monitored using ultrasound until it is at the desired point of action. A therapeutic drug is then delivered or a probe inserted

Method for heating tissue by delivering radio frequency energy through tissue electrodes having controlling energy delivery so that an abrupt increase in impedance between the electrodes and the tissue is observed, typically in the form of an abrupt decrease in power delivered to the electrodes. The power at which the impedance increases and / or the time required to induce such an increase in impedance, are relied on to determine acceptable ranges to achieve a maximum sustainable delivery of radio frequency energy to the tissue consistent with complete, rapid, and uniform heating of the tissue.

A fluid delivery device includes an array of needles, each in fluid communication with a respective reservoir. Respective actuators are coupled so as to be operable to drive fluid from the reservoirs via needle ports. Each needle can have a plurality of ports, and the ports can be arranged to deliver a substantially equal amount of fluid at any given location along its length. A driver is coupled to the actuators to selectively control the rate, volume, and direction of flow of fluid through the needles. The device can simultaneously deliver a plurality of fluid agents along respective axes in solid tissue in vivo. If thereafter resected, the tissue can be sectioned for evaluation of an effect of each agent on the tissue, and based on the evaluation, candidate agents selected or deselected for clinical trials or therapy, and subjects selected or deselected for clinical trials or therapeutic treatment.

Nucleotide delivery polymers, compositions, and associated methods for the enhancement of gene delivery and expression in solid tissues are provided. In one aspect, for example, a nucleotide delivery polymer may include a poloxamer backbone having a metal chelator covalently coupled to at least one terminal end of the poloxamer backbone. In another aspect, the nucleotide expression polymer has a metal chelator coupled to at least two terminal ends of the poloxamer backbone.

Methods and apparatus for percutaneous blood vessel access and tissue tunneling, including guidewire placement, are provided. In one embodiment, an atraumatic distal tip of a tissue tunneling, medical probe is pressed against the derma, and electrical energy (e.g., radio frequency (RF) energy) is conveyed to or from the distal tip to ablate tissue immediately adjacent the distal tip, thereby advancing the probe through the derma while the tissue immediately adjacent the distal tip is ablated. In one embodiment, the medical probe comprises an elongated, rigid, electrically conductive, shaft, and an electrically insulative sheath disposed on the shaft to form an exposed tip electrode configured for electrosurgically ablating solid tissue located immediately axial to the tip electrode to facilitate rapid advancement of the medical probe through solid tissue. The probe may include an axially extending lumen through which an elongated guidewire may be introduced.

A fluid delivery device includes an array of needles, each in fluid communication with a respective reservoir. Respective actuators are coupled so as to be operable to drive fluid from the reservoirs via needle ports. Each needle can have a plurality of ports, and the ports can be arranged to deliver a substantially equal amount of fluid at any given location along its length. A driver is coupled to the actuators to selectively control the rate, volume, and direction of flow of fluid through the needles. The device can simultaneously deliver a plurality of fluid agents along respective axes in solid tissue in vivo. If thereafter resected, the tissue can be sectioned for evaluation of an effect of each agent on the tissue, and based on the evaluation, candidate agents selected or deselected for clinical trials or therapy, and subjects selected or deselected for clinical trials or therapeutic treatment.

A preferred system for detecting an analyte in solid tissue, such as an intact lymph node, in vitro includes a laser arranged to generate a pulsed laser beam into solid tissue, which can be a fully intact lymph node. An acoustic sensor, and preferably at least three acoustic sensors are arranged in different positions to span a three dimensional space, such as in an X, Y and Z coordinate system, to detect photoacoustic signals generated within the lymph node. At least one computer receives signals from the acoustic sensor(s). The computer determines the presence or absence of, and preferably the position of analyte, from the signals and the timing of the signals. A preferred method for detecting an analyte in a lymph node in vitro includes exposing an extracted lymph node to a pulsed laser beam. A photoacoustic signal is sensed. The photoacoustic signal is analyzed to confirm the presence or absence of an analyte in the lymph node. Preferably, multiple photoacoustic signals are sensed from sensors that span a three dimensional space and the position of analyte is also determined.

A method and system for real-time continuous impedance monitoring along the surface of a graft implanted within a main vessel to aid in optimally positioning an electrode at a branch vessel ostium. Due to the conductivity differences among various kinds of solid tissue and blood, a fenestration catheter system uses impedance monitoring as a tool to detect the location of branch ostia through graft cloth. Such information enables the fenestration electrode to be properly positioned for creation of a fenestration in the graft cloth in situ. In addition, the fenestration catheter system may utilize impedance information to avoid contact between the electrode and metal stent structures used to anchor the graft during an in situ fenestration procedure. The fenestration catheter system includes a catheter shaft, an electrode, one or more reference or indifferent electrodes, an impedance analyzer, a power source and an electrode position reference to record impedance measurements in relation to position.

The present invention is drawn to methods for measuring numbers, levels, and / or ratios of cells, such as lymphocytes, infiltrated into a solid tissue, such as a tumor or a tissue affected by an autoimmune disease, and to methods for making patient prognoses based on such measurements. In one aspect, methods of the invention comprise sorting lymphocytes from an accessible tissue, such as peripheral blood, into functional subsets, such as cytotoxic T cells and regulatory T cells, and generating clonotype profiles of each subset. An inaccessible disease-affected tissue is sampled and one or more clonotype profiles are generated. From the latter clonotype profiles, levels lymphocytes in each of the functional subsets are determined in the disease-affected tissue by their clonotypes, which are identified from lymphocytes sorted into subsets from the accessible tissue.

The invention is directed to a method for determining immunophenotypes of tissue-infiltrating lymphocytes in a solid tissue of a patient by (a) generating clonotype profiles from a sample of nucleic acid extracted from a fixed tissue sample from a solid tissue of the patient, where such tissue contains tissue-infiltrating lymphocytes; and (b) determining immunophenotypes of the tissue-infiltrating lymphocytes by (i) obtaining a sample of lymphocytes from peripheral blood of the patient; (ii) sorting the lymphocytes from peripheral blood into at least one subset based on different immunophenotypes of the lymphocytes; (iii) generating a clonotype profile for each of the at least one subset of lymphocytes; and (iv) determining immunophenotypes of lymphocytes in the fixed tissue sample by a correspondence between clonotypes of the fixed tissue sample and clonotypes of the at least one subset.

The present invention provides medical devices with enhanced ultrasound visibility. The device uses real-time ultrasound monitoring of the position of the needle tip within the patient's body for topical drug delivery, probe positioning, fluid drainage, biopsy, or delivery of ultrasound pulses. The device controls the diffusion of drugs in solid tissues, injects particles into solid tissues, and delivers drugs to specific blood vessels. As the needle is inserted, a fluid with a different ultrasound visibility than the organ environment is injected into the patient. The fluid travels a short distance before being slowed and stopped by the patient's tissues, and the flow can be detected ultrasonically. During needle insertion, the needle position is monitored with ultrasound until the needle is at the ideal point of action. Therapeutic drugs are then delivered through the needle or probes are inserted to perform treatments such as removing tumors with radiofrequency heat. The flow rate can be adjusted during needle insertion to maintain a properly set image of the needle tip. At the point of application, the ultrasound imaging agent can be repeated and pulsed at different flow rates until a satisfactory fluid profile is obtained, after which the drug can be delivered. Ultrasound can also be sent through the needle with a detector mounted in the handheld assembly.

Each sensor in one or more pairs of sensors is associated with a particular tissue, for example a first tissue location and a second tissue location respectively. Tissue at a particular tissue location may be solid, for example, muscle tissue, fat tissue, etc., or fluid, for example, blood, fluids associated with edema, etc. The area between the two tissue locations associated with a pair of sensors may comprise solid tissue, fluid tissue, an empty chamber, or combinations thereof. For each pair of sensors in the at least one pair of sensors, a first impedance measurement between the pair of sensors and associated with a first frequency is determined. For each pair of sensors in the at least one pair of sensors, a second impedance measurement between the pair of sensors and associated with a second frequency is determined. A comparison of a ratio of the first impedance measurement at a point in time to the second impedance measurement at a corresponding point in time may be made to determine a volume-related value associated with an area located between the first tissue location and the second tissue location.

A practical method for estimating cardiac output and pulmonary artery wedge pressure with good accuracy is provided. The present invention provides a method for estimating the impedance arising from solid tissue by determining the impedance at the intersection between the line of identity and the extrapolated regression line, where the regression line is obtained by linearly regressing the maximum value to the minimum value of the impedance signal of each of multiple data sets, where each data set contains the maximum value and the minimum value of the impedance signal during one cardiac cycle, where impedance signal is obtained between a can electrode implanted in the left thoracic wall and an electrode inserted into the coronary vein, over a specific period of time following the infusion of hypertonic saline into the pulmonary circulation.

A method of repairing diseased or dysfunctional organs or of establishing a model system of a disease state is provided. For repairing diseased organs, the method involves engraftment of cells from healthy tissue of the diseased or dysfunctional organ admixed with gel-forming biomaterials and nutrient medium, signaling molecules and extracellular matrix components that can be made insoluble rapidly upon transplantation to form a graft. In this way, the graft mimics the complexity of the native microenvironment with a minimum number of components that allow transplantation of cells to successfully engraft, expand and then rebuild part or the entirety of the diseased or dysfunctional organ. In the case of using grafting methods for establishing a disease model, diseased cells may be transplanted in the biomaterials and into experimental hosts.

Embodiments provide swallowable devices, preparations and methods for delivering viable cells (VC) into the GI tract including GI wall tissue or other tissue site. Particular embodiments provide a swallowable device such as a capsule for delivering VC into an intestinal wall or other site. The VC can be contained within a tissue-penetrating shell disposed in the capsule that protects the VC as they pass through the GI tract until they are inserted into GI tract tissue or other location. The shell desirably has shape, size and material consistency to be contained in a swallowable capsule, delivered from the capsule into solid tissue by the application of force on the shell and biodegrade within the solid tissue to release the VC into the tissue. Within the shell or other structure the VC can be maintained in a viability-sustaining gel that preserves the viability of the VC for selected time periods.

In accordance with the present inventions, anchoring devices for a lead (e.g., a neurostimulation lead) placed on solid tissue (e.g., fascia) and methods of anchoring the lead relative to the tissue are provided. Such methods may include inserting the lead into an epidural space and coupling the lead to a neurostimulation.

Provided herein are devices and methods for rapid analysis of biological samples. In particular, devices and methods described herein can be applied to rapid nucleic acid analysis of solid tissue samples.

The invention belongs to the field of inspection and quarantine technology. Specifically, the invention is a nucleic acid detection reagent kit for synchronous discriminating and diagnosing avian influenza virus and newcastle disease virus. The detection reagents of the reagent kit include extraction reagent for extracting virus by silicon gel absorption column method, detection amplification reagent for detecting nucleic acid by RT-PCR Taq Man fluorescent probe method, and pretreatment liquid for solid tissue specimen for extracting virus RNA. Further, the invention employs in vitro transcription RNA as a positive contrast of the reagent kit. The reagent kit can rapidly and synchronously discriminate and diagnose avian influenza virus and newcastle disease virus which are highly infectious among avian plagues and have similar symptom, determine current major prevalent subtypes, such as H5, H7, H9, etc., and discriminate whether a infection source is an avian influenza having high pathogenicity, non-pathogenic avian influenza or mildly pathogenic avian influenza to human. The reagent kit is suitable for livestock and veterinarian station, import and export inspection and quarantine bureau, as well as other laboratories, and can be used for large-scale detection of influenza and epidemic surveillance.

Methods and devices for delivering an agent to a solid tissue in vivo for assessment of efficacy are described. One method involves withdrawing of a needle from and injecting of the agent into the solid tissue; another method involves delivering the agent using a plurality of microdialysis probes to a solid tissue.

Suture anchoring devices include retention features that will hold the anchoring devices in place and resist displacement when tension is applied to an attached suture in a direction opposite direction of placement. The anchors may be deployed by a needle shaft in a placement direction (which may be straight, curved, or a combination of both), and the needle shaft may have a sharpened or a blunt tip depending on the nature of the anchor. The anchors will find use when a distal end of the suture attached to the anchor is to be left in place in solid tissue so that it cannot be tied off.

The current invention provides a method for discovering protein biomarkers of disease for use in diagnostic assays of bodily fluids by determining differential expression patterns of proteins secreted or released directly by normal and diseased epithelial cells into glandular lumens. Determining those secreted or released proteins directly from the glandular lumen of diseased and normal solid tissue would lead to a catalogue of proteins that have a high degree of probability to be present in various bodily fluids in persons with specific diseases. This would prove useful as a means to diagnose specific conditions and diseases by simply assaying easily acquired bodily fluids. Past efforts to discover such diagnostic / screening markers in bodily fluids have proven difficult at best due to overriding complexity of the proteins within bodily fluids. This invention is a method of discovering those biomarkers in a more focused and less complex protein subpopulation, namely the secreted or released proteins present in glandular lumens.

Enzymatic and non-enzymatic detectors and associated membrane apparatus, and methods of use, such as within a fully implantable sensor apparatus. In one embodiment, detector performance is controlled through selective use of membrane configurations and enzyme region shapes, which enable accurate detection of blood glucose level within the solid tissue of the living host for extended periods of time. Isolation between the host's tissue and the underlying enzymes and reaction byproducts used in the detectors is also advantageously maintained in one embodiment via use of a non-enzyme containing permeable membrane formed of e.g., a biocompatible crosslinked protein-based material. Control of response range and / or rate in some embodiments also permits customization of sensor elements. In one variant, heterogeneous detector elements are used to, e.g., accommodate a wider range of blood glucose concentration within the host. Methods of manufacturing the membranes and detectors, including methods to increase reliability, are also disclosed.

Improved methods and systems for processing of solid tissue are described. The method may be performed manually or automatically. The system may have modules such as (i) a grossing module where a fresh tissue is sliced to prepare a tissue specimen, (ii) a hardening module that hardens the tissue specimen, (iii) an impregnating module that impregnates the tissue specimen that was hardened, and (iv) an embedding module that embeds a tissue specimen that was hardened and impregnated. Fresh (i.e., not fixed or frozen) tissue, which was excised to diagnose disease or to assess surgical treatment, is grossed to about 0.6 mm Preferably, the hardening of fresh tissue is initiated, but not completed, during grossing by contact with a chemical admixture. Preferably, dry ice, a thermoelectric device, or a gas condenser cools a metal mold containing the embedded specimen. It is sectioned and then microscopically examined as an alternative to histologic examination of a frozen section to avoid the known problems of discordant and deferred diagnosis.

The invention provides cytokine induced killer (CIK) cell populations and methods of using CIK cells to treat cellular proliferative disorders. CIK cells generated in vitro include both bulk cultures and clones. Individual CIK cell clones display distinct but overlapping lytic specificities for tumor cells and endothelial cells in vitro. When injected in vivo, bulk CIK cell cultures selectively attack tumor tissue. CIK cells can be used to treat a variety of cellular proliferative disorders, including early and late stage cancers as well as hematopoietic cell and solid tissue tumors.

The following description provides a biotissue sampling apparatus comprising a housing, a firing button configured on a rear-end of the housing; a tube with an aspirating hole configured to inject medicine in a tissue according to a longitudinal direction of a lower end and extended from a front-end of a housing; and a needle assembly that may move from the tube to a biopsy region by a button thereby cut a solid tissue and store or aspire a fluid tissue.

The present invention is drawn to methods for measuring numbers, levels, and / or ratios of cells, such as lymphocytes, infiltrated into a solid tissue, such as a tumor or a tissue affected by an autoimmune disease, and to methods for making patient prognoses based on such measurements. In one aspect, methods of the invention comprise sorting lymphocytes from an accessible tissue, such as peripheral blood, into functional subsets, such as cytotoxic T cells and regulatory T cells, and generating clonotype profiles of each subset. An inaccessible disease-affected tissue is sampled and one or more clonotype profiles are generated. From the latter clonotype profiles, levels lymphocytes in each of the functional subsets are determined in the disease-affected tissue by their clonotypes, which are identified from lymphocytes sorted into subsets from the accessible tissue.

The present disclosure relates to a medical analysis system (111) for processing magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, data (170) from a target volume (208) in a subject (218). The system (111) comprises amemory (107) for storing machine executable instructions; and a processor (103) for controlling the system (111), wherein execution of the machine executable instructions causes the processor (103) to: determine from the MRI data (103) chemical exchange saturation transfer, CEST, voxel values corresponding to a transfer of saturation between a predefined pool of protons and water protons, the pool of protons having a predefined chemical shift; and weight the CEST values in order to distinguish CEST values of fluid-rich tissues (507) from CEST values of solid tissues (505) in the target volume(208), wherein the fluid-rich tissue comprises an amount of fluid higher than a predefined minimum amount of fluid.

Disclosed are systems and methods for simultaneous detection of DNA and RNA genetic alterations comprising gene splicing variants, mutations, indel, copy number changes, fusion and combination thereof, in a biofluid sample from the patient without physically separating RNA from DNA. The systems and methods are similarly applicable to the simultaneous detection of DNA and RNA genetic alterations in solid tissues comprising gene splicing variants, mutations, indel, copy number changes, fusion and combination thereof. The present method utilized a barcoding method for analysis. The streamlined methods improve the simplicity, quantification accuracy and detection sensitivity and specificity of non-invasive detections of biomarkers.

The present invention incorporates weakly basic substituents (pKa about 8 or greater) such as pyrrolidine, piperidine, piperazine and azapane moieties in halogenated 2-nitromidazoles as a major improvement over prior art for the non-invasive detection of cellular hypoxia in normal and malignant tissues. The invention features the use of [18F] positron emission tomography, [19F] magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and [19F] magnetic resonance imaging. Improvements over prior art compounds are six-fold. 1) Salts of weakly basic reagents are highly water-soluble which facilitates administration. 2) Unreacted reagents are rapidly cleared from systemic circulation thereby decreasing background noise. 3) Reagents with weakly basic substituents are concentrated in tissue ˜3 fold above plasma levels thereby increasing binding intensity and enhancing signal detection. 4) Conjugate bases of weakly basic reagents have intermediate octanol-water partition coefficients that facilitate their penetration into all tissues including brain. 5) Cellular adducts of reagents containing weakly basic substituents are more stable than reagents of prior art. 6) Reagents with weakly basic substituents are effective for the detection of transient hypoxia in solid tissue.

A method of repairing diseased or dysfunctional organs or of establishing a model system of a disease state is provided. For repairing diseased organs, the method involves engraftment of cells from healthy tissue of the diseased or dysfunctional organ admixed with gel-forming biomaterials and nutrient medium, signaling molecules and extracellular matrix components that can be made insoluble rapidly upon transplantation to form a graft. In this way, the graft mimics the complexity of the native microenvironment with a minimum number of components that allow transplantation of cells to successfully engraft, expand and then rebuild part or the entirety of the diseased or dysfunctional organ. In the case of using grafting methods for establishing a disease model, diseased cells may be transplanted in the biomaterials and into experimental hosts.