Patent Grant
7771366
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vaginal fertility probes and in particular to new probes and associated methods of use. The probes of the present invention provide an electronic device that monitors the endocrinological/physiological status of epithelial tissues in the posterior fornix of the vagina.
More particularly, this invention relates to a probe for predicting and detecting ovulation in mammals, particularly in human females, and to a method of predicting and detecting ovulation that is based solely on the vaginal steady-state measurements of an epithelium-responsive parameter such as alternating current or admittance.
The invention also pertains to a bioassay for pharmacokinetic measurements of hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women, and to the monitoring of other therapies employed in women's health care. The invention also relates to a method and apparatus for women's self-administered health-awareness monitoring.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,247 (Kirsner, Jun. 28, 1988) discloses that measurements of the surface admittance or of the alternating current, performed with non-metallic, and particularly vitreous (or glassy) carbon, electrodes in the posterior fornix of the human vagina, provide a good prediction as well as detection of ovulation. The capability to predict and then detect ovulation was afforded by the therein-presented repeatable cyclic profiles of the probe readings, which exhibited a number of peaks and dips reflecting significant cyclical variations in the recorded parameter.
The cyclic profiles were yielded by the daily probe measurements of the current output from the electrodes that were stimulated by a relatively high-frequency and decidedly low-amplitude alternating voltage. The electrode stimulation was supplied by a small, battery-powered, hand-held apparatus with a digital display for the current output readings. The readings were plotted in a graph against the day of cycle. To the woman-user or to her physician, such a graphical representation of the data would be reminiscent of the graphing of the familiar, if rather unsatisfactory, basal body temperature measurements for fertility assessment.
My '247 patent did not make it clear that, by the time the patent issued, the probe's ovulation-marker minimum had been demonstrated to coincide with the urinary luteinizing hormone (LH) marker of ovulation. W. F. Ganong, “Review of Medical Physiology”, 17th edition, 1995 states that ovulation occurs about 9 hours after the LH surge in blood. The patent only showed that, as expected, the minimum invariably occurred before the rise in the woman's basal body temperature, which is indicative of ovulation having taken place before the temperature rise, consistent with the ovulation-marker minimum.
My 1988 '247 patent noted that the probe's ovulation marker minimum occurs at a time when the vaginal fluids are most conductive. Their increased conductivity is due to the well-known temporary abundance of mucous secretions with high water and salt content at around the time of ovulation. Significantly, the minimum in the probe admittance current is the inverse of that maximal conductivity. My patent made a point about this inverse relationship between the ovulation-marker drop in the probe current and the expected increase in the current that would have to be observed had metal electrodes been employed for conductivity or impedance measurement of the temporarily more conductive cervical mucus secretions.
I now reference examples of such metal electrode devices that yield otherwise featureless vaginal impedance cyclic profiles, exhibiting a simple mid-cycle minimum which is due to the temporarily increased conductivity (i.e., decreased resistance) of the vaginal fluids. This increase in conductivity of vaginal mucus had been published in the sixties and the seventies by farm animal reproduction scientists, and several U.S. patents utilizing that phenomenon were issued in the seventies and the eighties. McDougal, Scott et al. and Lemke (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,844,276, 4,224,949 and 4,498,481, respectively).
The patents disclosed different electrode configurations, all designed to maximize the contact area with the vaginal fluids for the measurements that were performed with standard ohmmeters. Scott et al. discussed at length the theory of their measurement method and probe. Unlike McDougal and Lemke, they used relatively long rod-shaped electrodes (at least 1 inch and up to 4 inches in length, preferred 2 to 3½ inches). Their ohmmeter could provide AC current at frequency up to 1 MHz (preferred 5 to 100 kHz) and the peak-to-peak voltage between 1 Volt and 10 Volts and preferably between 3 and 6 Volts.
It was not considered in their disclosure that these are very high voltage levels that cause electrode reactions of electrolysis and release of toxic metal ions due to electrode dissolution, which is bound to be harmful to the reproductive tract, particularly at the lower frequencies. While they disclose wide ranges of voltage and frequency, the examples of their cow monitoring results were in fact generated with 3 volts peak-to-peak at 2.5 kHz. They used 3 inch long electrodes that were positioned approximately an inch away from the cervix and the fornix.
One example of the application of this conductometric approach to human fertility monitoring is the Cue Fertility Monitor from Zetek Corporation, which employs a multitude of ring-shaped metal electrodes and is covered by U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,471 (Regas et al., Aug. 31, 1987). Since their vaginal monitor's cyclic profile exhibited only one distinct feature, namely the mid-cycle decrease in vaginal resistance, which afforded no ovulation prediction, Zetek also provided for an additional separate measurement of the conductivity of saliva. Salivary resistance gave no indication of ovulation but it did give them a long-term predictive signal about a week before ovulation. While such a long-term predictive signal is of great potential significance, neither the oral nor more importantly the vaginal measurements with the Zetek Cue Fertility Monitor generated any short-term predictive signal such as is produced by the probe disclosed in my '247 patent. The Cue's vaginal resistance cyclic profile is also devoid of the other multiple features that were described in my prior art patent.
The other example is a very similar, even if somewhat simplified, vaginal probe device and technique akin to the Cue and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,010 (Weinmann, Aug. 31, 1993). The patent purports to solve the problem of absent predictive signals by the introduction of the fundamentally wrong and therefore discredited rhythm-method calculation into the software of the device. Weinmann's recourse to the rhythm method is illogical because had the rhythm method worked, there would be no need to obviate its use with new technological tools. In his patent, Weinmann refers to but does not describe his software as evaluating the same profile of vaginal impedance as the profile generated by the Zetek Cue Monitor; the undisclosed software would additionally utilize a temperature-rise signal to define the end of the fertile period.
Note that no similar recourse, to either an additional oral measurement or to a 15 rhythm method calculation or to a temperature measurement, has been necessary with my probe technology as disclosed in the '247 patent.
My '247 patent was based on the assumption that only the special vitreous (or glassy) carbon electrodes were able to perform the vaginal measurements in the claimed manner. The assumption was that only the glassy carbon electrodes (gce) would yield the unprecedented cyclic profiles with the distinct and multiple features that provide the most important capability to predict as well as to detect ovulation. At the time and until recently, I was convinced that, in addition to the importance of performing the measurements in the posterior fornix of the vagina, my probe measured greater variations during the menstrual cycle than any other vaginal monitoring technique because of my particular method of measurement (namely, admittance or alternating current response to a.c.-applied small potential difference of relatively high frequency), performed with the particular kind of electrode material that I used and patented.
I held that view for several reasons: a) because no other vaginal monitor yielded any multi-featured cyclic profile (and they all used electrode materials other than vitreous carbon): b) because the vitreous carbon was undoubtedly biocompatible and novel in the gynecological diagnostic application; c) because, in my opinion, the vitreous carbon electrode is electrochemically distinct from metal electrodes and from electrodes made of other forms of carbon such as graphite or carbon paste; and d) because I was a practitioner of modern bioelectrochemistry and its electrodic (as opposed to ionic) and fuel-cell concepts of physiological phenomena. In these concepts, the classical (equilibrium) Nernst equation and ionic mechanisms are replaced with the Butler-Volmer and/or Tafel (kinetic) formalization of electrodic measurements and mechanisms.
In brief, at the inception of the project I envisaged the epithelium of the posterior fornix to function in a manner similar to the membrane models later rationalized in academic literature (e.g., Electrochim. Acta, 34, 567, 1989; J. Biol. Phys. 14, 31, 1986; J. Bioelectrochem. 3, 247, 1984), basically as a network of microscopic biochemical fuel cells. My 247 patent gave an example of a conceivable redox reaction involved in the hypothetical electron transfer network, and stated that “while not wishing to be bound by theory, the present inventor believes that this is an example of many such reactions”.
In the present application, I continue to maintain the position of not being bound by theory. However, I would add an important characteristic to my conceptual electrodic network, namely the susceptibility of some of the network components to at least some of the sex hormones and/or other chemicals involved in fertility cycling. A general example of such hormone-responsive electrodic components could be the enzymes that drive the cyclical changes in the composition of the epithelial cells and in the mucus secretions of the epithelia. Such enzymes could respond to the hormones by means of associated hormone-receptor sites. The genital tract is, in fact, known to be rich in the concentrations of the sex hormone receptors. Note that the classical concepts of ionics do not lend themselves to such responsiveness to hormones and other modulators. For more insight, the 1993 book “Surface Electrochemistry. A Molecular Level Approach” provides an eloquent account of the concepts and principles, including those of bioelectrochemistry, that inspired the design of the original Kirsner vaginal probe as a tool for scientific family planning.
In accordance with the inventions of the present application, a probe is provided which measures the alternating current or admittance in the posterior fornix of the mammalian vagina, using two steel electrodes that are stimulated with very low amplitude alternating voltage of high frequency. The probe is of such a length, diameter and shape as to place the electrodes in contact with a well-defined predetermined aspect of the epithelial tissues in the posterior fornix of the vagina. The probe disclosed in this application is an improvement on the probe described in my '247 patent.
The inventions of this application meet a number of objects:
One object of the inventions of this application is to improve the sensitivity and signal-to-noise characteristics of prior methods and apparatus for predicting and detecting ovulation in mammals in general and in women in particular.
Another object of the inventions is to increase the reliability and repeatability of fertility monitoring in the vagina.
Another object of the inventions is to monitor a parameter characteristic of the physiological and/or endocrinological status of the vaginal tissues.
Another object of the inventions is to enable the safe use of metallic electrodes, achieved by using electrode stimulation that avoids electrolytic damage of, or irritation to, the tissues in contact with the electrodes.
Another object of the inventions is to provide self-monitoring means for women pursuing health awareness.
Another object of the inventions is to provide a diagnostic tool for physicians, for example for the management of hormone replacement therapy or of the premenstrual syndrome.
A final object of the inventions is to improve the economic value of my own prior art apparatus by the use of a metal material and particularly an inexpensive and easily usable metal electrode material, although the use of noble metals is also within the scope of the inventions.
Inventions of this application comprise an improved method for monitoring fertility in women and a method of monitoring the hormonal status of the posterior fornix epithelia (collectively referred to as “tissue bioassay”). In either case, the method involves the following steps:
In another form, the method of my inventions involves the following steps:
Preferred versions of this method include:
In another form, the method of these inventions involves the following steps:
Preferred versions of this method include:
The inventions of this applications further include a probe for performing a tissue bioassay comprising:
Preferred embodiments of this probe include:
The inventions of this applications also include a probe for performing a tissue bioassay comprising:
The inventions of this application further include a probe for performing a tissue bioassay comprising:
Preferred embodiments of this probe include:
The inventions of this applications also include a probe for performing a tissue bioassay comprising:
Although my inventions are readily adaptable for use with other female mammals, the methods and apparatus according to the inventions are of particular applicability to the prediction and detection of ovulation in the human female, as was the case with my '247 patent. In addition, the methods and apparatus of the inventions are applicable to tissues other than vaginal tissues. For example, they can be applied to other tissues of the body, including secretory tissues such as oral tissues. Other examples include rectal tissues and certain specific regions of the skin.
The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring now to the drawings in detail,
In the probe of the prior art depicted in
The probe has electrodes 22 and 23 disposed opposite one another at the insertion end of the probe. The electrodes need to be located on the probe so as to make contact in the fornix region. At a minimum, at least one electrode should be located close to the end of the probe, which means that the maximum distance from the end of the probe to the nearest edge of the electrode should be less than 10% to 25% of the protrusion length of the cervix as it protrudes into the vagina. Preferably, at least one electrode should be located at the end of the probe, which means that the .about. maximum distance from the end of the probe to the nearest edge of the electrode should be less than 10% of the protrusion length of the cervix as it protrudes into the vagina.
Indicator means in the form of an elongated protrusion 21 are lined up with electrode 22. Protrusion means 21 give the user a definite guide to orient the probe during and after the process of insertion into the vagina.
This can be understood with the help of
The probe 34 is inserted in the same manner as a vaginal tampon, and will naturally go as far as the posterior fornix region 31, at the upper end of the vaginal canal 32, in the upper and dorsal (backward-oriented) neighborhood of the protruding cervix 33. Without the guiding means such as provided by the protrusion 21 in
Another method of achieving the controlled electrode orientation and epithelial contact is by altering the shape of the probe body so as to achieve the controlled contact by enhanced compliance with the detailed anatomy of the vaginal canal. Such a solution is merely an extension of the described method and is within the scope of this invention.
The shape of the electrodes need not be elongated as shown in
Other inventors' designs aimed to achieve the very opposite purpose of large contact area along at least a substantial part of the length of the vaginal canal and, with ring or spiral or helical electrodes, also with the circumferential dimension of the canal. Such designs short circuit across a number of distinct segments of the epithelium and therefore lose resolution, responding to an averaged charge-carrier, i.e., the electrolyte conductivity of the mucosal secretions.
The sufficiently small size of the electrodes is defined as allowing their placement so that the near end of the electrode further from the insertion end of the probe does not exceed about 100% to about 150% of the cervical protrusion into the fornix region. In this manner, the short circuiting across distinct segments of the epithelium is avoided.
Provided as a reference,
After the early follicular phase minimum on day 8, the probe profile of
A person skilled in the art of reproductive biology finds the oscillating or fluctuating pattern of peaks and dips in
With regard to the electronic admittance of the invention, electron microscopy has shown that the vaginal epithelial cells are interconnected by bridges of protoplasm and by tonofibrils, forming an integrated network. The microscopic anatomy of the vaginal mucosa is considered to be unique in its structure and in its responsiveness to the various hormones. The vaginal epithelium is a so-called uncornified stratified squamous type of multi-layered epithelium and it is known to undergo variations in its cells' characteristics during the menstrual cycle.
The invention replaces the visual observation of cytological methods with electrical measurements via the electrodes. An important aspect of the probe design is the capacitive coupling with the epithelial cells, achieved by means of controlled potential difference of very low amplitude and high frequency.
The low amplitude potential guarantees safety of operation because no electrolysis nor electrode metal dissolution can occur at the used 100 millivolt levels, well below the standard electrode potentials and/or overpotentials of reactions that can occur in the given physiological situation. This safety of operation is in contrast to the procedures involved in other inventors' prior art where voltage levels of several Volts are used and high currents are allowed to pass.
Also important for the design of the probe, which makes epithelial contact in the posterior fornix, is the fact that the fornix contains a squamocolumnar transitional zone of the epithelium. This is where the squamous epithelium gradually changes into the so-called simple columnar epithelium of the endocervix that produces the cervical mucus, also undergoing cyclical variations. Krantz (in “The Biology of the Cervix”, edited by R. J. Blandau and K. Moghissi, The University of Chicago Press, 1973) invokes the meeting of the two types of epithelia as an area of change which varies from 1 to 10 mm in width in the same individual. There is a continuous process of epithelial breakdown and reparation, an evolution of cells into mature epithelium, which has been variously termed squamous metaplasia, epidermidization, reserve cell hyperplasia, and squamous prosoplasia. Herewith originates my expectation that the probe may detect early stages of cervical cancer and other pathologies.
The present electronics, and particularly its calibration, is not absolutely identical to the electronics that generated the data in
The HRT cycle is referred to as a pseudo-menstrual cycle because, while the subject does exhibit menstruation-like bleeding at the end of the 25 days long cycle, this is induced by exogeneous (administered) steroids and she is no longer ovulating. The absence of ovulation is reflected in the profile of
This and similar experimental results suggest that the probe of this invention should be useful as a human bioassay monitor for HRT management, and for the assessment of bioequivalence and efficacy of different HRT preparations. Such a tool is of great interest not only to physicians and their patients but also to the pharmaceutical industry. This is so for example because of the Food and Drug Administration's focus on the issues of bioequivalence, safety and efficacy of the sex hormone preparations; that focus has led to a recall of all generic conjugated equine estrogen products in 1991.
The probe of the invention should also be useful for the assessment of general health, and for the assessment of efficacy of various treatments in women's health care. A good example is the management of the premenstrual syndrome (PMS). PMS is a recurrent cyclic disorder, which includes luteal (that is post-ovulatory) phase-related changes in physiology, mood and/or behavior. The American Psychiatric Association calls the syndrome the premenstrual (formerly “the late luteal phase”) dysphoric disorder and has defined its criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMMD). Statistically, although most women experience only mild cyclic symptoms, as many as 30-40% suffer troublesome symptoms that interfere with normal functioning, and in about 5% the symptoms are seriously disruptive.
For the psychiatrist, it is essential to establish that the various physiological and psychological dysfunctions vary with the menstrual cycle. It is important to separate patients who meet the DSMMD criteria from those who have exacerbations of somatic or psychiatric disorders during the post-ovulatory phase of the cycle, as well as from others who show fluctuations that are not related to the menstrual cycle. This is where the probe of the invention will become a psychiatrist's and psychotherapist's tool in the premenstrual assessment procedure.
Since progesterone therapy as well as oral contraceptives are common pharmacological interventions in PMS management, it is important to understand that these contraceptives exert their effect at multiple sites in the body. The sites include the hypothalamus and pituitary glands of the brain as well as the various parts of the genital tract depicted in
Even though the cyclic profile in
Comparing the results of the two subjects from the perspective of the widely different ages leads to the following observation. In the case of the menopausal female, the lateral (side-ways) orientation of the electrodes registers with both probes consistently higher readings than the anterior-dorsal (up-and-down) orientation. In the very young female, the opposite relationship between the orientations is observed, more pronounced with the more sensitive sse probe of the invention. This is consistent with an effect of aging on the epithelia, which can be expected (namely, atrophy in the menopausal epithelium), and the observation also adds to the importance of proper and consistent positioning means for the achievement of reproducible epithelial contact and measurements.
The same observation of practically zero response after withdrawal was also made throughout the monitoring of the natural cycle data represented in
All this evidence means that the probes register a response of the epithelial tissues and that the conductivity of mucus in the vaginal lumen contributes very little, if anything, to the values of the probe readings. In other words, the vagina is not a simple tube, with insulating walls, filled with varying quantities of conductive fluids (such a model having been assumed in the conductometric prior art including Zetek's and Weinmann's).
It must be concluded that the mucus material adheres to the surface of the epithelium as its integral component rather than being transferred to the surface of the probe including the electrodes. This conclusion is consistent with Rosa and Velardo's findings of the mucins “capping the epithelium” during their investigations of histochemical localization of vaginal oxidative enzymes and mucins. Rosa and Velardo (Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. 83, Art. 2, p. 122, Nov. 18, 1959) found differential localization or pattern distributions” of the oxidative enzymes in the vaginal epithelium. They also found these enzymes responsive to the steroid hormones in both synergistic and antagonistic manner, depending on the area and on the relative concentrations (which change with the phase of the cycle). They invoked “active and relatively inactive regions within the vaginal epithelium” in their studies of estrogen and progesterone effects on the oxidative metabolism and mucinogenesis of the component layers of the vaginal epithelium.
The XY plot data of
This Table summarizes the results of one method of quantification of the superiority of the new sse probe over the old gce probe of my prior art.
This U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/610,115, filed Jun, 30, 2003, claims the benefit of U.S. patent application No. 60/392,551, filed Jul. 1, 2002.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3297020 | Mathiesen | Jan 1967 | A |
| 3749089 | Derr | Jul 1973 | A |
| 3844276 | McDougall | Oct 1974 | A |
| 4224949 | Scott et al. | Sep 1980 | A |
| 4498481 | Lemke | Feb 1985 | A |
| 4685471 | Regas et al. | Aug 1987 | A |
| 4753247 | Kirsner | Jun 1988 | A |
| 4770186 | Regas et al. | Sep 1988 | A |
| 5240010 | Weinmann | Aug 1993 | A |
| 5916173 | Kirsner | Jun 1999 | A |
| 6174290 | Cho | Jan 2001 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20050256423 A1 | Nov 2005 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60392551 | Jul 2002 | US |
