Patent Application
20160189843
The invention relates to an adapter, more particularly to a magnetic adapter assembly that can permit various types of combinations and expansions of magnetic excitation devices of a magnetic thermal ablation system.
The present cancer curing method, such as microwave hyperthermia, radiofrequency ablation hyperthermia, etc., employs ablation to cause necrosis of tumor tissues, thereby achieving the purpose of cancer treatment. However, the cost of the conventional treatment for tumor ablation is rather high, so that many patients have not undergone cancer treatments.
Following today's upgrading of medical standards, a new magnetic thermal tumor ablation technology for cancer treatment is developed. This technology mainly uses an alternating magnetic field to act on a magnetic needle, so that the magnetic needle generates an eddy current that is converted into heat to ablate the tumor tissues. This approach can significantly reduce the treatment cost and the patient suffering. However, how to control the magnetic field is a key element for determining the treatment quality. Hence, there is still a must to rely on continuous improvement of research and development of the technology.
Referring to
Further, the current magnetic hyperthermia equipment requires the use of the cooling water circulating device 14, so that it is bulky and is not easy to transport. Moreover, the current magnetic hyperthermia equipment has many winding wires and water pipes which may hinder the treatment process. In addition, when the coils 13 of the two magnetic hyperthermia equipments are simultaneously used for treatment, the magnetic fields thereof cannot be easily matched.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a magnetic adapter assembly that can permit various types of combinations and expansions of magnetic excitation devices of a magnetic thermal ablation system for providing more applications thereof.
According to this invention, a magnetic adapter assembly for connection with at least one magnetic excitation device comprises at least one magnetic adapter which includes an insulating housing, a magnetic unit and at least one fastener. The insulating housing includes a plurality of connection portions facing in different directions. The magnetic unit is disposed in the insulating housing, and has a plurality of positioning grooves respectively aligned with the connection portions for allowing extension of the magnetic excitation device into one of the positioning grooves through a selected one of the connection portions. The at least one fastener is used for fastening the magnetic excitation device to one of the connection portions.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before this invention is described in detail, it should be noted that, in the following description, similar elements are designated by the same reference numerals.
Referring to
The insulating housing 21 is made of non-magnetic and non-conductive material, and includes a plurality of connection portions 211 and pairs of plug ports 212. The insulating housing 21 has a multi-sided body. The connection portions 211 protrude from an outer surface of the insulating housing 21 and face in different directions. Each of the connection portions 211 has an externally threaded member 213, and a non-threaded through hole 214 extending through the externally threaded member 213 for communicating an interior thereof with the ambiance. Each of the pairs of the plug ports 212 are disposed on the insulating housing 21 in proximity to a corresponding one of the connection portions 211.
The magnetic unit 22 is made of one of a highly magnetic monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and iron-based material. The magnetic unit 22 is disposed in the insulating housing 21, and has a plurality of positioning grooves 221 respectively aligned with the connection portions 211. That is, the positioning grooves 221 are respectively registered with the through holes 214 of the connection portions 211.
Each of the fasteners 23 has a ring body formed with an internal thread 231. The movable joint 24 has two opposite ends, one of which is inserted into one of the positioning grooves 221 through a corresponding one of the connection portions 211. The magnetic adapter 2 further includes a plurality of caps 25 for threadedly and respectively connecting the connection portions 211 so as to seal the through holes 214 thereof.
Referring to
As shown in
However, the number of the magnetic excitation device 34 may be varied according to the actual requirement. Each of the magnetic excitation devices 34 includes a magnetic body 341, a coil 342, and an insulating shell 343 that is made of a non-magnetic, non-conductive, non-magnetic shield and high temperature resistant material and that is used to encapsulate the magnetic body 341 and the coil 342. The magnetic body 341 is made of one of a highly magnetic monocrystalline, polycrystalline and iron-based material, and may have a C-shaped, U-shaped, inverted U-shaped or L-shaped body. In this embodiment, an L-shaped magnetic body 341 is illustrated. The magnetic body 341 has a magnetic excitation end 344 and a connecting end 345. The connecting end 345 has an insert portion 346, and an external thread portion 347 proximal to the insert portion 346. The insert portion 346 is also made of one of a highly magnetic monocrystalline, polycrystalline and iron-based material.
The coil 342 is wrapped around the magnetic excitation end 344 of the magnetic body 341, and has a pair of terminals (not shown). The coil 342 may be wrapped around the magnetic excitation end 344 in different manners, for example, a tight single layer manner, an equal manner, a tight multi-layer manner, etc.
The control unit 35 is disposed in an interior of the carrier unit 31. A user can input control instructions through the input unit 36, so that the control unit 35 can control rotation of the universal rotation unit 32.
With reference to
Further, the pair of the terminals of the coil 342 of each magnetic excitation device 34 are inserted into the pair of the plug ports 212 (see
Referring again to
It should be noted herein that, with the caps 25 sealing the through holes 214 of the idle ones of the connection portions 211 of the insulating housing 21, intrusion and accumulation of dirt or dust into the magnetic adapter 2 can be prevented.
It is worth to mention herein that, with the provision of the magnetic adapter 2, an appropriate number of the magnetic excitation devices 34 can be assembled to the magnetic adapter 2 in accordance with the requirement of the thermal ablation treatment by following the aforesaid assembling steps. Thus, the magnetic excitation devices 34 can be easily assembled and expanded. Further, with the magnetic excitation devices 34 being assembled to the magnetic adapter 2 at the selected ones of the connection portions 211, the convenience of treatment operation can be facilitated and the effect of the treatment can be enhanced.
The magnetic adapter 2 may be mounted in a suspended manner according to the different structural design of the magnetic thermal ablation system 3. The magnetic thermal ablation system 3, as shown in
Referring to
With the pair of the terminals of the coil 342 of each magnetic excitation device 34 inserted into a corresponding pair of the plug ports 212, the plug ports 212 can be connected in parallel, as shown in
In sum, through the aforesaid structural design of the magnetic adapter assembly of this invention, each connection portion 211 can permit connection with one of the magnetic excitation devices 34. Further, two adjacent ones of the magnetic adapters 2 can be connected in parallel by inserting the two opposite ends of the magnetic bar 26 into the positioning groove 221 of one of the magnetic adapters 2 and the positioning groove 221 of the adjacent magnetic adapter, after which the coupling member 23′ is threadedly engaged to one of the connection portions 211 of the one of the magnetic adapters 2 and the corresponding one of the connection portions 211 of the adjacent magnetic adapter 2. As such, when use in medical treatment, the magnetic thermal ablation system 3 can have different types of combinations and expansions to meet different treatment applications. Moreover, the magnetic adapter 2 may be manufactured in a modular manner, so that the method is simple and the cost thereof can be reduced. As a result, more applications may be developed. Therefore, the object of this disclosure can be achieved.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the most practical embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
