Optical Therapy Devices, Systems, Kits and Methods for Providing Therapy to a body Cavity

Abstract

An optical therapy device is disclosed. The optical therapy device provides therapeutic light therapy to a body cavity. The device includes a housing adapted to be hand held, a UV light source positioned in or on the housing, and an insertion member having a distal end configured to be inserted into the body cavity to illuminate tissue in the body cavity with light from the light source.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No. 11 / 152,946, filed Jun. 14, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and to which application priority is claimed under 35 USC § 120.[0002]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 646,818, filed Jan. 25, 2005 and U.S. Provisional Application 60 / 661,688 filed Mar. 14, 2005, which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Infection of a patient takes many forms. Typically, acute bacterial infections are rather easily controlled using standard antibiotic therapies. Chronic infections, on the other hand, are often very difficult to control for several reasons: (1) the antimicrobial flora of chronically infected regions of the body often develop resistance to standard antibiotics due to multiple attempts to treat the flora with antimicrobial therapy; (2) the microbes often form biofilms to protect thems...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The invention is an optical therapy device that provides therapeutic light to a body cavity for treatment purposes. The device includes a housing with a light source and an insertion member with a distal end that can be inserted into the cavity. The insertion member has a UV light source that can illuminate tissue in the cavity. The device can be used to treat various conditions such as nasal cavity infections, nasal vestibule infections, and more. The device can also have a data collection unit and a controller for individual control of the light sources. Overall, the invention provides a convenient and effective tool for optical therapy treatment."

Problems solved by technology

Chronic infections, on the other hand, are often very difficult to control for several reasons: (1) the antimicrobial flora of chronically infected regions of the body often develop resistance to standard antibiotics due to multiple attempts to treat the flora with antimicrobial therapy; (2) the microbes often form biofilms to protect themselves against the protective mechanisms of the patient; and (3) many chronic infections occur around man-made implants which often serve as a nidus for microbes to proliferate as well as form biofilms.

The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that each year, nearly 2 million people in the United States acquire an infection while in a hospital, resulting in 90,000 deaths.

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