Patent ID: 8444635

Claim:
A method for treating emphysema, the method comprising of: providing a source of microwave radiation, focusing the microwave radiation to form a focused spot, aiming the focused spot onto a lung of a patient affected by emphysema, the lung comprising healthy and non-healthy areas of lung tissue, the healthy areas having higher rates of blood flow than the non-healthy areas, moving the source of microwave radiation along a path around the body of the patient while the patient is breathing, while aiming the focused spot onto the lung, continuing to aim the focused spot onto the lung until at least a portion of the non-healthy areas reaches at least a first temperature while allowing the higher rates of blood flow in the healthy areas to carry away heat from the healthy areas and thereby prevent the healthy areas from exceeding a second temperature, lower than the first temperature, wherein the first temperature is at least 50 degrees Celsius and the second temperature is no more than 45 degrees Celsius.