Patent ID: 7691100

Claim:
A probe for use in effecting treatment in a patient comprising: an imaging control system arranged to record an identified volume in the patient the whole of which volume is to be heated to a required temperature, the volume being defined by a peripheral surface of the volume; a heating system for applying heat to the volume within the patient including: a heat source; a probe having a longitudinal axis and an end with the heat source carried thereon; a drive system for inserting the end of the probe into the volume and for rotating the probe about its axis; the probe being arranged to cause directing of heat from the end in a direction at an angle to the longitudinal axis such that a heating effect of the probe lies in a disk surrounding the axis; the probe being arranged such that the direction of the heat defines a heating zone which forms a limited angular orientation of heating within the disk such that, as the probe is rotated, the probe causes heating of different angular segments of the volume within the disk; the probe being arranged such that the application of heat by the probe to a selected angular segment causes heat to be transferred from the selected angular segment into parts of the volume outside the selected angular segment surrounding the end of the probe; a cooling system for applying cooling to the end of the probe so as to extract heat from parts surrounding the probe by conduction of heat therefrom; and a control system for controlling the heating system and the cooling system; the cooling system being arranged such that the amount of cooling applied to the probe relative to the amount of heating ensures that parts of the volume surrounding the end of the probe are cooled sufficiently to cause a net heating effect by which substantially only the selected angular segment of the heating zone is heated to the required temperature and parts outside the selected angular segment are not heated to the required temperature.