Patent ID: 8032225

Claim:
A device for promoting a localized change in a flow of blood through a blood vessel proximate to body tissue, the device comprising: (a) at least a first electrode adapted to operatively contact a first portion of body tissue; (b) at least a second electrode adapted to operatively contact a second portion of body tissue, and (c) a signal generator, operatively connected to said first electrode and said second electrode, for providing a plurality of electrical impulses to said electrodes, and (d) a control mechanism for controlling said impulses produced by said signal generator, wherein said control mechanism and said signal generator are designed and configured such that when said electrodes are displaced so as to contact, respectively, said first and second portions of said body tissue, a voltage differential is established, said voltage differential being made up of wave forms propagated in opposite directions between said electrodes, said signal generator varying a time interval between delivery of successive ones of said electrical impulses such that a position of successive contractions within a series of contractions resulting from said electrical impulses progresses directionally along a length between said first and said second portions of body tissue, said series of contractions promoting the localized change in the flow of blood through the blood vessel.