Patent ID: 6916290

Claim:
An in situ tumor temperature profile measuring probe, comprising: an elongated rod including a pair of opposite end portions, an outer insulating layer having a plurality of spaced apart holes defined therein at one of said opposite end portions of said rod, and a common electrical input lead extending between said opposite end portions of said rod and disposed below said holes and having portions exposed at said holes, said common electrical input lead being adapted to provide an electrical input signal and said common electrical input lead of said rod is a hollow tube made of an electrically conductive material; a plurality of spaced apart thermal sensors each formed within one of said holes of said outer insulating layer of said rod in electrical contact with said common electrical input lead of said rod, each of said thermal sensors being adapted to receive the electrical input signal from said common electrical input lead, to sense the temperature of biological matter adjacent to where said thermal sensor is placed and to produce an electrical output signal correlated to the temperature sensed; and a plurality of electrical output leads each mounted to said outer insulating layer of said rod in electrical contact with a different one of said thermal sensors and extending to the other of said opposite end portions of said rod, each of said electrical output leads being adapted to receive the electrical output signal from said one of said thermal sensors and output the electrical output signal to means for collecting the output signals and forming a temperature profile of the biological matter.