Patent ID: 11872414
Assignee: ALPHEUS MEDICAL, INC.
Field: Pharmaceuticals (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 11:
12. A method of producing ultrasound waves for sonodynamic therapy to treat tumor cells harboring a sonosensitizer, comprising:
coupling a sonodynamic therapy device to a skin surface over a treatment region with the tumor cells of a patient,
wherein the sonodynamic therapy device comprises:
a patient interface,
an array of piezoelectric ultrasound transducer elements, and
a controller,
wherein the patient interface comprises at least one of a cap, a rigid shell, and a flexible shell,
wherein each of the piezoelectric ultrasound transducer elements comprises an emitting surface configured to emit a plurality of ultrasound waves, wherein the plurality of ultrasound waves are planar ultrasound or defocused,

driving the array of piezoelectric ultrasound transducer elements with a signal to activate the sonosensitizer in the tumor cells in a brain of the patient,
wherein the sonosensitizer comprises a porphyrin compound,
wherein the signal is configured to minimize a spatial variation of an acoustic intensity in the brain with the tumor cells of the patient with a modulated wave parameter configured to emit the plurality of the ultrasound waves at the acoustic intensity in a range of 0.1 W/cm2 to 50 W/cm2 within the treatment region to activate the sonosensitizer in the treatment region to treat cancer in the tumor cells of the patient,
wherein the signal is modulated by a duty cycle modulated drive signal configured to produce a duty cycle modulated pulse sequence,
wherein the duty cycle modulated drive signal comprises a randomized phase configured to drive each of the piezoelectric ultrasound transducer elements to produce a high temporal peak acoustic intensity with a low temporal average acoustic intensity within the treatment region when activating the sonosensitizer,
wherein the controller drives the array of piezoelectric transducer elements with the signal at a frequency in a range of 20 kHz to 2 MHz to emit the plurality of ultrasound waves with the temporal average acoustic intensity without increasing a temperature of a healthy tissue in the treatment region above 42° C.,
wherein the randomized phase promotes coverage of the treatment region by the plurality of ultrasound waves,
wherein the sonodynamic therapy device is configured to acoustically couple the array of piezoelectric ultrasound transducer elements to the skin surface,
wherein the patient interface is configured for non-invasively conforming to the patient at the skin surface; and

circulating a fluid in a cooling system to absorb heat through the skin surface over the treatment region, wherein the cooling system comprises a fluid volume between the patient interface and the array of piezoelectric transducer elements.