Hyperthermia device

ES 2 139 507 A1

DESCRIPTION

Improvements in electrotherapy devices.

The present invention refers to an apparatus for electrotherapy, mainly intended for the treatment of body parts affected by neoplasms and other phenomena caused by abnormal cell growth.

In the current state of the art, electrotherapy devices are known based on the application of high frequency currents and aimed at producing hyperthermic effects, that is, local heating of the cellular tissues of certain parts of the body, affected by neoplasms and ailments. analog.

In one of the known embodiments of hyperthermia devices for electrotherapy, a pair of symmetrical and metallic plates are used, the patient's body acting as a resistive element, whose plates or electrodes are generally connected to the transformer of the output stage of the corresponding circuit.

This type of apparatus has been improved by the one that is the object of the patent of invention n ° 9400929, of the applicant company itself, which comprises a metallic active electrode that has a smaller dimension than the return electrode, also constituted by a plate. method, whose dimensional difference between the two electrodes, arranged facing one and the other side of the body region to be treated, determines an effect of increases in impedances that, In its combination with the frequency power amplifier generator, with adequate output impedances, it determines the necessary rise in the treatment temperature at the local level.

This class of apparatus, given the characteristics of its operation and the very nature of the operation, normally, in the known types of oscillation generators for electrotherapy, it is necessary to reduce the working power to the same at the moments of application of the electrode on the interested body part and in the moments of separation from the electrode itself at the end of the treatment operation. Sparks and / or burns may also occur in known types of electrotherapy devices in the areas to be treated.

In order to avoid these drawbacks and to provide safety and comfort in the use of the apparatus, a characteristic of this invention is the fact that the output transformer coil is present in the secondary, in addition to the end terminals for the connections of the neutral electrode or of the return and an active metal electrode with an electrically insulating cover (according to invention patent 549,883 also from the applicant firm), an intermediate terminal for the connection of an active metal electrode without an insulating cover, whose terminal was provided with a very low impedance suitable with an average that adapts uniquely and exclusively to the different sizes of said metallic electrodes without an insulating cover that are used, with which eliminates sparks when placing and removing these electrodes in their application to the patient's body and thus avoiding the possibility of burns to it.

These and other characteristics are better deduced from the detailed description that follows, to facilitate which is accompanied by a sheet of drawings in which a practical case of realization has been represented that is cited only as a non-limiting example of the scope of the present invention.

In the drawings, the single figure is the schematic representation of the output stage corresponding to the circuit of this improved apparatus.

According to the drawings, the reference (1) indicates the frequency amplifier, corresponding to the output or final stage of the circuit, to which the HF (high frequency) transformer (2) is coupled, with (3) being the primary of the coil of said transformer and comprising its secondary (4), at its ends, respective terminals (5) and (6) to which the active metalic electrode (7) with an electrically insulating cover and the neutral (8) or return electrode are connected respectively. At an intermediate point of the secondary (4) of the coil there is another terminal (9) destined to the connection of a metallic active electrode (10) without insulating cover, whose terminal is equipped with a very low impedance suitable with an average that adapts solely and exclusively to the different sizes of said electrodes (10) that are used in the treatment of the patient. Reference (11) indicates the midpoint of the application output.

The invention, within its essentiality, can be carried out in other forms of realization that differ only in detail from the one indicated only by way of example to which the protection sought is also achieved. Therefore, this apparatus for electrotherapy could be made with the most suitable means, components and accessories, which can be replaced by other technically equivalent ones, since all of this is included within the claims.