Patent Application
20110196265
1. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic wave, especially to a frequency modulated ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for bone fractures and a method for generating frequency modulated ultrasonic waves.
2. Descriptions of Related Art
Generally, bones grew at early stage in human bodies are soft, flexible and plastic. Along with increasing age, the cartilage component is decreasing while the bond component is increasing so that the elder people have a higher frequency of bone fracture. Bone fractures are most often caused by falling, traffic accidents, sports, or natural disasters. When bone fracture occurs, the wound is very painful, and the wound also has an unnatural bending and obvious swelling.
Bone fracture is a common injury. During the rest period, the cost includes not only medical expenses but also income loss. Some patients sustain serious fractures may never go back to work and this lead to social problems such as unemployment, increased family burden, family financial difficulty, etc. Therapies for bone fracture require a rest period no matter traditional gypsum for fixation or operation is used. For patients and their families unable to rest for a certain period or unable to afford the long-term medical cost, if the fracture healing process can be accelerated, the reset period is shortened and the medical expenses are reduced. Thus the total load and cost caused by fractures can be decreased.
After bone fractures, the time required for bone healing is about three to five months, affected by the severity of the fracture and the patient's status. A delayed union occurs when a bone does not heal within six months after a break. When the broken bone fails to heal within nine months, it is called a nonunion. Besides the patient's status, bone healing time is also influenced by other factors such as patient's age, a time period from the fracture occurring to the treatment, fracture site, severity, blood supply, smoking, obesity, heavy drinking, nutrition status, infection, kidney disease, drug abuse and so on. According to statistics, about 10 to 20 percent of the bone fracture patients have problems of delayed union or nonunion. They need to receive the operation again or bone grafting. Thus how to shorten the healing time for reducing medical expenses and cost becomes an important issue for these patients.
The method available now for promoting bone healing stimulation by ultrasonic waves so as to shorten recovery time. However, most of ultrasonic apparatuses for accelerating bone healing use ultrasonic waves having fixed frequency to activate cells. During the bone healing process, cells are treated by the ultrasonic waves having fixed frequency. The frequency of the ultrasonic waves is not modulated within different stages of the bone healing, Although the bone healing is speed up and the healing time is shortened by the treatment compared with conventional natural process of bone healing, the treatment provides limited effects. This is due to that cells and tissues involved in different stages of the bone healing are different.
Thus there is a need to provide a novel frequency modulated ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for bone fractures and a method for generating frequency modulated ultrasonic waves not only overcomes above shortcomings but also enhances the fracture healing and shortens the recovery of the bone fracture healing,
Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a frequency modulated ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for bone fractures and a method for generating frequency modulated ultrasonic waves that modulate frequency of ultrasonic waves during, the treatment of fracture healing and stimulate cells with ultrasonic waves having different frequencies for accelerating fracture healing and reducing healing time. Thus the waste of individual and social cost is reduced and patient's life quality is improved.
It is another object of the present invention to apply frequency modulated ultrasonic waves to a fracture site of living animals so as to promote cavitation and further enhance therapeutic effect of frequency modulated ultrasonic waves on bone factures,
In order to achieve above objects, a frequency modulated ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for bone fractures of the present invention includes a control interface, a control unit, a waveform generator circuit and a transducer. The control interface is used to set a plurality of parameters and the control unit generates a control signal according to those parameters. The waveform generator circuit generates a waveform signal according to the control signal. The transducer converts the waveform signal and produces an ultrasonic wave for treating fracture of living animals. The present invention provides different parameters for modulating a frequency of ultrasonic waves, Ultrasonic waves with different frequencies are used to treat bone fractures during the bone healing process of living animals. Thus the fracture healing is speeded up and the recovery time is reduced,
Moreover, cavitation is promoted by frequency modulated ultrasonic waves acting on the bone fracture site of living animals. Thus the therapeutic effect of frequency modulated ultrasonic waves on bone fractures is further enhanced,
Furthermore, frequency modulated ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for bone fractures healing of the present invention further includes a coupling circuit that is coupled between the waveform generator circuit and the transducer and is used for coupling the waveform signal from the waveform generator circuit. Thus the waveform signal is converted into an ultrasonic wave by the transducer.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
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At each stage of the fracture healing process, cells and tissues involved are different. Thus different parameters are set in the present invention at different stages of the fracture healing process. Thus according to different parameters, the control unit 13 adjusts a frequency of the waveform signal so as to modulate the frequency of the ultrasonic waves generated by the transducer 19. Thus during the bone healing, ultrasonic waves with different frequencies are used to simulate cells so as to activate cells for accelerating the bone healing and further reducing reduce the recovery time for injuries. Moreover, the present invention is applied not only to bone fracture therapy of humans, but also to bone fracture therapy of other animals. Thus the present invention is for treatment of bone fracture of all living animals.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the recovery process is divided into a plurality of recovery stages. Different control parameters are set corresponding to each recovery stage so as to module frequencies of ultrasonic waves. The modulation of frequency is from high frequency to low frequency. For example, the fracture healing process is divided into a first recovery stage, a second recovery stage, and a third recovery stage. Ultrasonic frequencies corresponding to the above three stages are 3.0 MHz, 1.5 MHz and 0.75 MHz respectively. The above embodiment is a only preferred embodiment, not intended to limit the present invention. Furthermore, by adjustment of parameters, a duty cycle of the waveform signal is modulated and the ratio of on/off time of the waveform signal is further adjusted. In an embodiment, the ratio of on/off time of the waveform signal is 1:4.
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The control signals are generated by the control unit 13 according to parameters to control the first oscillator 161 as well as the second oscillator 163. Thus according to the parameters, the first oscillator 161 and the second oscillator 163 respectively generate a first waveform signal for modulating the duty cycle and a second waveform signal for modulating the frequency, The regulator 165 is coupled to the first oscillator 161 and the second oscillator 163 for receiving the first waveform signal from the first oscillator 161 as well as the second waveform signal from the second oscillator 163 and generating a waveform signal. The first waveform signal is used as a switch signal and the regulator 165 outputs the second waveform signal of the second oscillator 163 according to “on” time of the switch signal. The first oscillator 161 of the frequency modulated ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for bone fractures is a multivibrator. Moreover, the waveform generator circuit 16 further includes an amplifier 167 that is coupled to the regulator 165 for amplifying waveform signals generated by the regulator 165 to be converted by the transducer 19. Thus ultrasonic waves are generated.
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The present invention treats bone fractures by ultrasonic waves that are acoustic waves that generate little force acting on the fracture and stimulating bones to adapt and change its structure. At the same time, tissues absorb energy from ultrasonic waves and the frequency of the ultrasonic waves is adjusted according to time period of the injury. Thereby metabolism is reconstructed or normalized so as to speed up body fluid around for accelerating nutrition supply and waste removal. The ultrasonic waves can also regulate gene expression and increase callus formation. Moreover, ultrasonic waves increase blood flow velocity and promote growth of new blood vessels. The increasing of blood flow also enhances fracture healing. Due to different cells and tissue compositions involved during different stages of the fracture healing, parameters set are changed according to fracture healing status in the present invention. The frequency modulated ultrasonic waves are used to treat bone fractures for enhancement of fracture healing.
The therapeutic effect of ultrasonic waves on bone fractures is due to ultrasonic cavitation that affects callus formation and enhances bone healing. Thus the frequency modulated ultrasonic waves of the present invention can be used in combination with in vitro micro/nanobubbles injected. That means the frequency modulated ultrasonic waves act on the plurality of micro/nanobubbles at the fracture site of living animals so as to promote cavitation effects. Thus the therapeutic effect of frequency modulated ultrasonic waves on bone fractures is further enhanced. Furthermore, the present invention can further make some modifications on surfaces of the micro/nanobubbles for tageting of a treatment of bone fracture sites.
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In summary, the frequency modulated ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for bone fractures of the present invention includes a control interface, a control unit, a waveform generator circuit and a transducer. The control interface is for setting a plurality of parameters and the control unit generates a control signal according to the parameters and the control signal is sent to the waveform generator circuit. A waveform signal is generated according to the control signal and is sent to the transducer for conversion and production of ultrasonic waves. The present invention mainly provides different parameters of frequency modulation of ultrasonic waves so as to use ultrasonic waves with different frequencies stimulating cells, accelerating fracture healing and further reducing healing time during the bone healing process of living animals. Moreover, the frequency modulated ultrasonic waves is applied to and acted on a plurality of micro/nanobubbles at the fracture site so as to promote cavitation and further enhance therapeutic effect of frequency modulated ultrasonic waves on bone factures.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
