Irradiation device for therapeutic treatment of skin diseases and other ailments

Abstract

The invention relates to an irradiation device and method for the treatment of totally or partially cell-mediated inflammations of the skin, the connective tissue and the viscera, viral and other infectious diseases such as HIV and prionic infections, fungal infections of the skin and the mucous membranes, bacterial diseases of the skin and the mucous membranes as well hand eczema and anal eczema which comprises at least one irradiation device to irradiate a surface treatment area where the wavelength of the emitted radiation to a treatment area is longer than 400 nm and comprises at least one spectral band between 400-500 nm while the radiation device has a gas discharge lamp containing at least gallium, indium or their respective halides as irradiation source, means that less than 7% of the overall optical output are emitted in the UV range, wherein at least 30% of the optical output are emitted in the range of 400-500 nm; and contains means for the generation of optical pulses towards a treatment area with a power density of the optical pulse peaks larger than 0.5 W/cm² and smaller than 500 W/cm². The energy of one pulse relates to 0.05-10 J/cm².

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 094,430 filed on Mar. 8, 2002, which is herein incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] This invention relates to an irradiation device for therapeutic purposes, especially for the acute or chronic treatment of totally or partially cell-mediated inflammations of the skin, connective tissue and internal organs, viral and other infectious diseases such as HIV or prion infections, fungal diseases of the skin and the mucous membranes, bacterial diseases of the skin and the mucous membranes as well as hand eczema or anal eczema. [0004] 2. Brief Description of the Related Art [0005] Therapeutic irradiation arrangements have been known for a long time, especially in the field of phototherapy of skin diseases. According to the particular application the patient is irradiated with wavelengths between 315-1500 nm. Particularly the...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0044] In another preferred embodiment a pulsed radiation source is operated in simmer mode, thus allowing to increase the pulse slope.

[0045] It is also possible to combine the scan movement with a pulsed radiation source, in order to further decrease the achievable pulse lengths for an assumed treatment area, which is also advantageous in view of thermal relaxation.

[0046] Particularly in the upper performance range the embodiment contains a cooling unit in order to avoid necrosis of the irradiated cells. Therefore, the cell temperature must be kept below 60° C. Type and size of the cooling unit here depend on the kind of energy administered and the intervals of administration. When using high energies, air cooling can be replaced by contact cooling, for example, by a cooled sapphire or a coolant that is sprayed directly on the skin. Another possibility for contact cooling is the use of cooled liquids, for example, water, oils or alcohol, which extract heat from the tissue through a latex or silicone membrane. The coolants ought to be optically transparent with lowest possible heat transition resistance. The more the skin can be cooled without causing damage, the higher energy input is possible without causing necrosis of the cells. Here, another advantage of pulsed radiation emerges. The gradients of heat input by optical pulses and cold input by cooling in the tissue vary from each other. The gradient of cold input is usually more shallow, so that there might be freezing damage due to crystallization. Through the pulses, however, there is a shock heating in th

Problems solved by technology

Up to now, these have been treated with UV-light, which often leads to temporary impr

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