What is claimed is:
1. A method for selectively controlling the temperature of a selected organ of a patient for performance of a specified application, comprising:
introducing a guide catheter into a blood vessel;
providing a supply tube having a heat transfer element attached to a distal end thereof, the heat transfer element having a plurality of exterior surface irregularities, the surface irregularities having a depth greater than the boundary layer thickness of flow in the feeding artery of the selected organ;
inserting the supply tube and heat transfer element through the guide catheter to place the heat transfer element in the feeding artery of the selected organ;
creating turbulence around the surface irregularities at a distance from the heat transfer element greater than the boundary layer thickness of flow in the feeding artery, thereby creating turbulence throughout the blood flow in the feeding artery;
circulating fluid into the heat transfer element via the supply tube;
circulating fluid out of the heat transfer element via the guide catheter; and
transferring heat between the heat transfer element and the blood in the feeding artery to selectively control the temperature of the selected organ.
2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:
the surface irregularities on the heat transfer element comprise a plurality of segments of helical ridges and grooves having alternating directions of helical rotation; and
turbulence is created by establishing repetitively alternating directions of helical blood flow with the alternating helical rotations of the ridges and grooves.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising inducing blood turbulence in greater than 20% of the period of the cardiac cycle within the carotid artery.
4. A method for selective thrombolysis by selective vessel hypothermia, comprising:
introducing a guide catheter into a thrombosed blood vessel;
delivering a thrombolytic drug to the blood by flowing the thrombolytic drug into the guide catheter;
introducing a supply tube having a heat transfer element at a distal end thereof into the thrombosed blood vessel through the guide catheter;
cooling the heat transfer element by flowing a working fluid through the heat transfer element, the return path for the working fluid being the guide catheter; and
cooling the blood by flowing the blood past the heat transfer element, such that the blood is cooled to a prespecified temperature range.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the drug is chosen from the group consisting of tPA, urokinase, streptokinase, precursors of urokinase, and combinations thereof.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the thrombolytic drug is streptokinase and the prespecified temperature range is between about 30 C. and 32 C.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the thrombolytic drug is urokinase and the prespecified temperature range is below about 28 C.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein the thrombolytic drug is a precursor to urokinase and the prespecified temperature range is below about 28 C.
9. A method for selective thrombolysis by selective vessel hyperthermia, comprising:
introducing a guide catheter into a thrombosed blood vessel;
delivering a thrombolytic drug to the blood by flowing the thrombolytic drug into the guide catheter;
introducing a supply tube having a heat transfer element at a distal end thereof into the thrombosed blood vessel through the guide catheter;
heating the heat transfer element by flowing a working fluid through the heat transfer element, the return path for the working fluid being the guide catheter; and
heating the blood by flowing the blood past the heat transfer element, such that the blood is heated to a prespecified temperature range.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the drug is chosen from the group consisting of tPA, urokinase, streptokinase, precursors of urokinase, and combinations thereof.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the drug is tPA and the specified temperature range is between about 37 C. to 40 C.
12. A selective organ heat transfer device and guide catheter assembly, comprising:
a guide catheter capable of insertion to a selected feeding artery in the vascular system of a patient, the guide catheter having a soft tip and an interior retaining flange at a distal end;
a flexible supply tube capable of insertion in the guide catheter;
a heat transfer element attached to a distal end of the supply tube, the heat transfer element having a flange at a distal end, the flange capable of engagement with the retaining flange to prevent the heat transfer element from disengaging with the guide catheter; and
a plurality of exterior surface irregularities on the heat transfer element, the surface irregularities being shaped and arranged to create turbulence in surrounding fluid, the surface irregularities having a depth at least equal to the boundary layer thickness of flow in the feeding artery.
13. The assembly of claim 12, further comprising a strut coupled to the supply tube at a distal end thereof.
14. The assembly of claim 12, wherein the heat transfer element comprises a plurality of heat transfer segments, and further comprising a flexible joint connecting each of the heat transfer segments to adjacent the heat transfer segments.
15. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the flexible joint comprises a joint selected from the group consisting of a bellows, a metal tube, a plastic tube, a rubber tube, and a latex rubber tube.
16. The assembly of claim 12, wherein:
the surface irregularities comprise a helical ridge and a helical groove formed on each the heat transfer segment; and
the helical ridge on each the heat transfer segment has an opposite helical twist to the helical ridges on adjacent the heat transfer segments.
17. A method for performing angiography during selective vessel hypothermia, comprising:
introducing a guide catheter into a blood vessel;
delivering a radioopaque fluid to the blood by flowing the radioopaque fluid into the guide catheter;
introducing a supply tube having a heat transfer element at a distal end thereof into the blood vessel through the guide catheter;
cooling the heat transfer element by flowing a working fluid through the heat transfer element, the return path for the working fluid being the guide catheter; and
cooling the blood by flowing the blood past the heat transfer element, such that the blood is cooled to a prespecified temperature range.
18. A method for performing stenting of a stenotic lesion during selective vessel hypothermia, comprising:
introducing a guide catheter into a blood vessel;
introducing a guide wire through the guide catheter and across a stenotic lesion;
delivering a balloon catheter loaded with a stent via the guide wire; positioning the stent across the lesion;
expanding the balloon with contrast;
deploying the stent;
introducing a supply tube having a heat transfer element at a distal end thereof into the blood vessel through the guide catheter;
cooling the heat transfer element by flowing a working fluid through the heat transfer element, the return path for the working fluid being the guide catheter; and
cooling the blood by flowing the blood past the heat transfer element, such that the blood is cooled to a prespecified temperature range.
19. A method for selectively controlling the temperature of a selected organ of a patient for performance of a specified application, comprising:
introducing a return catheter into a blood vessel having a heat transfer element attached to a distal end thereof, the heat transfer element having a plurality of exterior surface irregularities, the surface irregularities having a depth greater than the boundary layer thickness of flow in the feeding artery of the selected organ, the heat transfer element having an outlet at a distal end thereof;
inserting a working fluid catheter into the return catheter and heat transfer element such that the working fluid catheter plugs the outlet of the heat transfer element;
creating turbulence around the surface irregularities at a distance from the heat transfer element greater than the boundary layer thickness of flow in the feeding artery, thereby creating turbulence throughout the blood flow in the feeding artery;
circulating fluid into the heat transfer element via the working fluid catheter; circulating fluid out of the heat transfer element via the return catheter; and transferring heat between the heat transfer element and the blood in the feeding artery to selectively control the temperature of the selected organ.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:
removing the working fluid catheter from the return catheter and the heat transfer element;
inserting a delivery catheter into the return catheter and the heat transfer element, the delivery catheter having a delivery outlet at a distal end thereof; and
delivering a drug via the delivery catheter.
21. The method of claim 19, wherein:
the surface irregularities on the heat transfer element comprise a plurality of segments of helical ridges and grooves having alternating directions of helical rotation; and
turbulence is created by establishing repetitively alternating directions of helical blood flow with the alternating helical rotations of the ridges and grooves.
22. A method for selectively controlling the temperature of a selected organ of a patient for performance of a specified application, comprising:
introducing a return catheter into a blood vessel having a heat transfer element attached to a distal end thereof, the heat transfer element having a plurality of exterior surface irregularities, the surface irregularities having a depth greater than the boundary layer thickness of flow in the feeding artery of the selected organ, the heat transfer element having an outlet at a distal end thereof;
inserting a deliveryworking fluid catheter into the return catheter and heat transfer element such that the deliveryworking fluid catheter plugs the outlet of the heat transfer element in a first condition and an inflatable balloon coupled to a distal end of the deliveryworking fluid catheter plugs the outlet of the heat transfer element in a second condition, the deliveryworking fluid catheter having a delivery outlet at the distal end thereof and at least one working fluid outlets at a distance upstream of the distal end;
creating turbulence around the surface irregularities at a distance from the heat transfer element greater than the boundary layer thickness of flow in the feeding artery, thereby creating turbulence throughout the blood flow in the feeding artery;
in the first condition,
circulating fluid into the heat transfer element via the working fluid catheter;
circulating fluid out of the heat transfer element via the return catheter; and
transferring heat between the heat transfer element and the blood in the feeding artery to selectively control the temperature of the selected organ; and in the second condition,
delivering a drug to the blood via the delivery outlet in the first condition.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of enhancing a digital signal, comprising:
(a) providing an incoming signal having sample values associated to points of a d-dimensional input sampling grid, d being an integer at least equal to 1, and providing a d-dimensional output sampling grid with an ordering of points of said output sampling grid;
(b) deriving an average signal defined on said output sampling grid with a sampling grid adjustment applied to said incoming signal;
(c) iteratively increasing a scale parameter, and for each scale deriving a grouping array, wherein said grouping array associates to each sample of said average signal a match sample located before with respect to said ordering of points of said output sampling grid; and for each scale updating said average signal and deriving a bandelet signal with a redundant grouping lifting;
(d) computing an enhanced bandelet signal at each scale and an enhanced average signal with an enhancement process applied to said bandelet signal at each scale and to said average signal obtained after the last iteration of step c; and
(e) iteratively decreasing a scale parameter, and for each scale updating the enhanced average signal with an inverse redundant grouping lifting depending on said enhanced bandelet signal at said scale, and outputting the enhanced average signal derived at the end of said iteration as an enhanced digital signal.
2. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein said redundant grouping lifting in step c comprises updating said average signal and deriving a bandelet signal with averages and differences of pairs of average signal samples associated by said grouping array.
3. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein said sampling grid adjustment in step b comprises outputting a weight array defined on the output sampling grid, the weight array having values indicating points of the output sampling grid that are not in the input sampling grid; and wherein said redundant grouping lifting in step c comprises updating said average signal and deriving a bandelet signal with averages and differences computed according to said weight array values, and wherein said redundant grouping lifting further comprises updating said weight array.
4. A signal enhancement method according to claim 3, wherein said redundant grouping lifting in step c further comprises updating said average signal and deriving a bandelet signal with averages and differences normalized with said weight array.
5. A signal enhancement method according to claim 4, wherein said input sampling grid and said output sampling grids are of dimension d=3 and the incoming signal is a video signal.
6. A signal enhancement method according to claim 5, wherein said input sampling grid is an interlaced video sampling grid and said output sampling grid is a progressive grid.
7. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein for at least one scale, said grouping array in step c is derived from the grouping array at a previous scale by a grouping estimation with block matching.
8. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein said enhancement process in step d includes thresholdings.
9. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein said output sampling grid is strictly larger than said input sampling grid.
10. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein said incoming signal is the output of an approximate inverse operator applied to an input signal.
11. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein said incoming signal is one of a plurality of incoming subband signals derived by a subband decomposition of an input digital signal, wherein said steps a through e are applied to each of the plurality of incoming subband signals to output respective enhanced subband signals, the method further comprising reconstructing an output enhanced signal by applying an inverse subband decomposition to said enhanced subband signals.
12. A signal enhancement method according to claim 11, wherein said subband decomposition is a wavelet decomposition.
13. A signal enhancement method according to claim 11, wherein said input digital signal is output from an approximate inverse operator applied to an input signal.
14. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein said input sampling grid and said output sampling grids are of dimension d=3 and the incoming signal is a video signal.
15. A signal enhancement method according to claim 14, wherein said input sampling grid is an interlaced video sampling grid and said output sampling grid is a progressive grid.
16. A signal enhancement method according to claim 1, further comprising transforming an input one-dimensional digital with a time-frequency transform to obtain said incoming signal with d=2, and applying an inverse time-frequency transform to said enhanced digital signal to reconstruct an output enhanced one-dimensional signal.
17. A signal enhancement method for enhancing a plurality of input signals, comprising:
initializing a plurality of updated signals with said plurality of input signals;
iteratively computing a plurality of incoming signals each having sample values associated to points of a d-dimensional input sampling grid, d being an integer at least equal to 1, the iterative computation comprising transforming each of said plurality of updated signals with a restoration operator;
deriving a plurality of enhanced signals by respective applications of a process to each of said plurality of incoming signals; and
deriving a plurality of output signals from said plurality of enhanced signals when an iteration decision stops the iterations, and otherwise updating said plurality of updated signals with said plurality of enhanced signals.
wherein said process applied to one of said plurality of incoming signals comprises:
(a) providing a d-dimensional output sampling grid with an ordering of points of said output sampling grid;
(b) deriving an average signal defined on said output sampling grid with a sampling grid adjustment applied to said incoming signal;
(c) iteratively increasing a scale parameter, and for each scale deriving a grouping array, wherein said grouping array associates to each sample of said average signal a match sample located before with respect to said ordering of points of said output sampling grid; and for each scale updating said average signal and deriving a bandelet signal with a redundant grouping lifting;
(d) computing an enhanced bandelet signal at each scale and an enhanced average signal with an enhancement process applied to said bandelet signal at each scale and to said average signal obtained after the last iteration of step c; and
(e) iteratively decreasing a scale parameter, and for each scale updating the enhanced average signal with an inverse redundant grouping lifting depending on said enhanced bandelet signal at said scale and outputting the enhanced average signal derived at the end of said iteration as an enhanced digital signal.
18. A signal enhancement method according to claim 17, wherein the iterative computation further comprises applying a subband decomposition to a signal obtained by the transformation with the restoration operator to provide said incoming signal as one of a plurality of incoming subband signals, wherein said steps a through e are applied to each of the plurality of incoming subband signals to output respective enhanced subband signals, the method further comprising applying an inverse subband decomposition to said enhanced subband signals to obtain one of said plurality of enhanced signals.
19. A signal enhancement method according to claim 17, wherein said plurality of input signals are single-stack or multiple-stack seismic signals.
20. A signal enhancement apparatus, comprising circuitry arranged to enhance a digital signal by:
(a) providing an incoming signal having sample values associated to points of a d-dimensional input sampling grid, d being an integer at least equal to 1, and providing a d-dimensional output sampling grid with an ordering of points of said output sampling grid;
(b) deriving an average signal defined on said output sampling grid with a sampling grid adjustment applied to said incoming signal;
(c) iteratively increasing a scale parameter, and for each scale deriving a grouping array, wherein said grouping array associates to each sample of said average signal a match sample located before with respect to said ordering of points of said output sampling grid; and for each scale updating said average signal and deriving a bandelet signal with a redundant grouping lifting;
(d) computing an enhanced bandelet signal at each scale and an enhanced average signal with an enhancement process applied to said bandelet signal at each scale and to said average signal obtained after the last iteration of step c; and
(e) iteratively decreasing a scale parameter, and for each scale updating the enhanced average signal with an inverse redundant grouping lifting depending on said enhanced bandelet signal at said scale, and outputting the enhanced average signal derived at the end of said iteration as an enhanced digital signal.
21. A signal enhancement apparatus, comprising circuitry arranged to enhance a plurality of input signals by:
initializing a plurality of updated signals with said plurality of input signals;
iteratively computing a plurality of incoming signals each having sample values associated to points of a d-dimensional input sampling grid, d being an integer at least equal to 1, the iterative computation comprising transforming each of said plurality of updated signals with a restoration operator;
deriving a plurality of enhanced signals by respective applications of a process to each of said plurality of incoming signals; and
deriving a plurality of output signals from said plurality of enhanced signals when an iteration decision stops the iterations, and otherwise updating said plurality of updated signals with said plurality of enhanced signals,
wherein said process applied to one of said plurality of incoming signals comprises:
(a) providing a d-dimensional output sampling grid with an ordering of points of said output sampling grid;
(b) deriving an average signal defined on said output sampling grid with a sampling grid adjustment applied to said incoming signal;
(c) iteratively increasing a scale parameter, and for each scale deriving a grouping array, wherein said grouping array associates to each sample of said average signal a match sample located before with respect to said ordering of points of said output sampling grid; and for each scale updating said average signal and deriving a bandelet signal with a redundant grouping lifting;
(d) computing an enhanced bandelet signal at each scale and an enhanced average signal with an enhancement process applied to said bandelet signal at each scale and to said average signal obtained after the last iteration of step c; and
(e) iteratively decreasing a scale parameter, and for each scale updating the enhanced average signal with an inverse redundant grouping lifting depending on said enhanced bandelet signal at said scale, and outputting the enhanced average signal derived at the end of said iteration as an enhanced digital signal.