Patent ID: 8353853

Claim:
Apparatus for transcutaneous encephalic insonication, comprising an ultrasound transducer mounted on a support for positioning the transducer on the skull of a patient to be treated, said support having a receptacle for removably retaining a coolant pouch such that said coolant pouch contacts the skull of a patient to be treated when said support is fitted onto a patient, said support also having an inlet coolant tube retainer, and an outlet coolant tube retainer; a coolant pouch disposed in said receptacle, said coolant pouch providing acoustic coupling between said transducer and said skull, said coolant pouch having an inlet coolant tube retained in said inlet coolant tube retainer and an outlet coolant tube retained in said outlet coolant tube retainer; said transducer removably mounted on said support over said coolant pouch, said transducer comprising multiple transducer elements in which the energy beam from each transducer element has minimal overlap with the energy beam of each of the other transducer elements at the surface of the skull and having increasing overlap with the energy beam of at least one other transducer element within the skull, said transducer being energizable at one or more frequencies in the range of from 200 to 400 kHz for insonicating a region within the skull, wherein said transducer is energizable in a pulsed mode having an “on” time and an “off” time and the frequency at which said transducer is energized during said “on” time is varied while the transducer is energized over a range of frequencies within said range of from 200 to 400 kHz.