Electroporation System for BPH Tissue Necrosis via Impedance Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for treating Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) using electroporation lack real-time monitoring and control, leading to potential thermal damage and inefficiency in targeting specific tissue areas deep within the body.
Innovation Solution
A system employing mono-polar and bipolar electrodes with a voltage pulse generator to induce controlled electroporation in BPH tissue sites, utilizing real-time imaging technologies like ultrasound, MRI, and electrical impedance tomography to monitor and adjust electrical pulses, ensuring minimal thermal damage and precise tissue ablation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high voltage pulses are applied to induce electroporation in BPH tissue, then cell membrane permeabilization and tissue necrosis are achieved, but thermal damage to surrounding tissue may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs real-time monitoring systems that detect electrical impedance changes during electroporation treatment. The system continuously measures impedance between electrodes and feeds this information back to control the voltage pulse application, allowing dynamic adjustment of treatment parameters to achieve effective tissue necrosis while preventing thermal damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes controlled changes in electrical parameters (voltage amplitude, pulse duration, pulse frequency) during the electroporation process. By dynamically adjusting these parameters based on real-time impedance measurements, the system optimizes cell membrane permeabilization effectiveness while minimizing thermal effects on surrounding tissue.
2Manufacturing precision
If electroporation is applied to deep BPH tissue sites, then targeted tissue ablation is achieved, but real-time monitoring and control become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces electrical impedance as an intermediary measurement parameter that can be detected through electrodes placed in or near the treatment area. This intermediary signal provides real-time information about tissue state and electroporation effectiveness, enabling monitoring and control of deep tissue treatment without requiring direct visualization or complex imaging systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical or visual monitoring methods with electrical measurement techniques. By using electrical impedance tomography and impedance-based sensing, the system achieves real-time monitoring capability for deep tissue electroporation, substituting complex mechanical imaging systems with simpler electrical measurement approaches.
3Ease of operation
If electrical pulses are applied without real-time monitoring, then treatment simplicity is maintained, but thermal damage and treatment inefficiency occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-regulating electroporation system where real-time electrical impedance measurements automatically guide the voltage pulse application. The system uses the tissue's own electrical properties as feedback signals to control the treatment process, eliminating the need for complex external monitoring equipment while preventing thermal damage and improving treatment efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables controlled and effective electroporation of BPH tissue sites with real-time monitoring, reducing thermal damage and ensuring targeted tissue necrosis while preserving surrounding tissue, thereby improving the treatment efficacy and safety of BPH.
Implementation Method 1
Electroporation is defined as the phenomenon that makes cell membranes permeable by exposing them to certain electric pulses
Implementation Method 2
Dielectric breakdown of the cell membrane due to an induced electric field, irreversible electroporation
Implementation Method 3
In reversible electroporation the cell membrane reseals a certain time after the pulses cease and the cell survives
Implementation Method 4
The mechanism of electroporation is not yet fully understood. It is thought that the electrical field changes the electrochemical potential around a cell membrane and induces instabilities in the polarized cell membrane lipid bilayer
Implementation Method 5
The unstable membrane then alters its shape forming aqueous pathways that possibly are nano-scale pores through the membrane, hence the term 'electroporation'
Data Source
AI summary
A system for treating benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) of a prostate. At least first and second mono-polar electrodes are configured to be introduced at or near a BPH tissue site of the prostate gland of the patient. A voltage pulse generator is coupled to the first and second mono-polar electrodes. The voltage pulse generator is configured to apply sufficient electrical pulses between the first and second mono-polar electrodes to induce electroporation of cells in the BPH tissue site, to create necrosis of cells of the BPH tissue site, but insufficient to create a thermal damaging effect to a majority of the BPH tissue site.