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Flexible arrayRelated Patent Categories: Surgery: Light, Thermal, And Electrical Application, Light, Thermal, And Electrical Application, Light ApplicationFlexible array description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070123957, Flexible array. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application incorporates by reference, and claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/520,465, filed on Nov. 14, 2003. The present application is related to co-pending application Ser. No. ______ filed on the same date as this application, entitled, "Phototherapy Device And System", by inventors Marc D. Friedman, Stephen Evans, Paul J. Zalesky, Jon Dahm, and Philip Levin, and such co-pending application is incorporated herein by reference. FIELD [0002] This invention relates to apparatus and methods for delivering radiation, including delivering radiation to a surface on or within a living body and, more particularly, to apparatus and methods for using light to debilitate or kill microorganisms on or within a body cavity of a patient. BACKGROUND [0003] Infections involving the human gastrointestinal tract and other body lumens are extremely common, involving many millions of people on an annual basis. These infections are responsible for significant illness, morbidity and death. One of the most common gastrointestinal infections is a chronic infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterial pathogen that infects the stomach and duodenum. In industrialized nations such as the United States, H. pylori may be found in 20% or more of the adult population. In some South American countries, the H. pylori infection rate approaches 90%. Although infection with H. pylori can be asymptomatic, in a significant minority of infected people it is associated with serious conditions including gastritis, gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, gastric cancer, and gastric lymphoma. H. pylori is believed to be responsible for approximately 90% of all reported duodenal ulcers, 50% of gastric ulcers, 85% of gastric cancer, and virtually 100% of gastric lymphoma. [0004] The most common treatment currently available for H. pylori infection is a complex antibiotic regimen involving three or four expensive drugs given over a two-week period. Even with antibiotic treatment, 20% or more of those treated are not cured of their infection. Further, the powerful antibiotics used are not well tolerated by some patients, variously causing allergic reactions, nausea, an altered sense of taste and diarrhea. In addition, antibiotic resistance by this and many other pathogenic organisms is growing rapidly. Up to 50% of H. pylori isolates are now resistant to one or more of the best antibiotics known to cure the infection. No vaccine is yet available for H. pylori, despite years of intensive effort. [0005] Therapeutic methods that do not rely solely on drugs to treat disease thus have significant potential advantages over antibiotic therapy for bacterial infections. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a light therapy that includes pretreatment with a photosensitizing drug, followed by illumination of the treatment area to kill cells having a high concentration of the drug, which preferentially absorbs light at specific wavelengths. A typical application of this method is to debilitate or destroy malignant tumor cells that have preferentially retained the photosensitizing drug, while preserving adjacent normal tissue. Direct deactivation or killing of H. Pylori and other microorganisms has been demonstrated using light, without requiring pretreatment with a photosensitizer. [0006] Broad deployment of light therapy for H. Pylori and other intraluminal infections will require practical and reliable light sources with which to effect such treatment. Access can be gained to some treatment sites within the body, including interior surfaces of the digestive tract, using light sources configured as elongate probes that can be guided through an external orifice into the body and to the treatment site. One such minimally invasive approach is to deliver light to the interior of a body lumen through an optical fiber that is optically coupled to a remotely located high power laser. This approach to light therapy is expensive, generally lacks portability, and is impractical for delivering light to large intraluminal treatment areas. [0007] An alternative approach for developing minimally invasive probes for intraluminal light therapy is to utilize electrically excited light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes within a probe. One problem associated with this approach is that the light-emitting devices confined within an elongated probe produce waste heat when electrically excited, thereby significantly limiting the maximum average light output power achievable from the probe without thermally damaging the light-emitting devices, and without exceeding safe temperatures for exposure of the probe to body tissue at the treatment site. [0008] Additionally, it would be advantageous for a probe to be made physically flexible to be safely guided through narrow passages in the body and positioned at a treatment site. Attempts to address these problems may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,478 and 5,576,427. However, each one of these references suffers from a variety of disadvantages, including one or more of the following disadvantages: the probe is lacking flexibility in the plane of a substrate on which the array of light-emitting devices is constructed, and thermal dissipation of the probe at high light output power is not addressed. [0009] Thus, a great need exists for new devices and systems to deliver light to an interior of a lumen, for treatment of H. pylori and other intraluminal infections. There also exists a need for apparatus and methods to deliver light to lumens of the body in a safe and effective manner. In addition, generally there exists a need for the effective delivery of light to an interior space that may benefit from treatment with radiation including light. SUMMARY [0010] The present invention relates to delivering radiation or light to an interior of an object or an organism to effect or facilitate a chemical or biological reaction, including devices and methods for delivering light to the interior of a lumen, to effect a treatment at a wall of the lumen. The invention is particularly useful for performing therapeutic medical procedures on the interior of a lumen, for example, the gastrointestinal tract of a living human or animal. The invention can also be applied to deliver light to the interior surface of any structure into which the apparatus can be disposed. The invention also relates to systems for the diagnosis and treatment of infections within a lumen in a patient. [0011] One aspect of the present invention is a flexible array. The array includes a first flexible conductive buss and a second flexible conductive buss, each of which has a respective longitudinal axis. The first buss and the second buss are substantially parallel and not directly in contact with each other. The array also includes a plurality of platforms disposed between the first buss and the second buss, each of the plurality of platforms being connected to the first buss by a first member and to the second buss by a second member. The array further includes at least one radiation-emitting device disposed on at least one of the plurality of platforms, and electrically coupled to the first buss and the second buss by at least one flexible electrical lead. In one embodiment, the at least one radiation-emitting device is a light-emitting diode. [0012] In an embodiment, the first member is flexible and the second member is flexible, the first buss has a first buss side surface and the second buss has a second buss side surface, and each of the plurality of platforms has a first platform side surface and a second platform side surface. In this embodiment, each first member is disposed between the first buss side surface and a first platform side surface, and each second member is disposed between the second buss side surface and a second platform side surface. [0013] In another embodiment, the first member is flexible and the second member is flexible, the first buss has a first top surface and the second buss has a second top surface, and each of the platforms has a top surface and a bottom surface, and each first member is disposed between the first top surface and a bottom surface, and each second member is disposed between the second top surface and a bottom surface. In any of the above embodiments, either or both of the first and the second buss may be in the same plane and may include one or more convolutions along its respective longitudinal axis. [0014] In yet another embodiment, the at least one radiation-emitting device is a light-emitting diode. In other embodiments, the at least one radiation-emitting device emits radiation substantially within a band of wavelengths adapted to treat diseased tissue, or substantially within a band of wavelengths adapted to modify the rate of a chemical reaction. In an embodiment, the band of wavelengths is substantially centered between approximately 400 nanometers and 410 nanometers. In another embodiment, the at least one radiation-emitting device emits radiation. [0015] Radiation-emitting devices may be arranged in a variety of physical configurations in an array of the present invention. In one embodiment, the at least one radiation-emitting devices includes at least two radiation-emitting devices. In another embodiment, one of the at least two radiation-emitting devices is disposed on a top surface and the other is disposed on a bottom surface. In yet another embodiment, the at least one radiation-emitting devices is a plurality of radiation-emitting devices, and the at least one flexible electrical leads comprises a plurality of electrical leads. In still another embodiment, the plurality of flexible electrical leads electrically couple the plurality of radiation-emitting devices between the first buss and the second buss in a series-parallel circuit. The series-parallel circuit may include any number of radiation-emitting devices in series. In one embodiment, the series-parallel circuit comprises a plurality of groups of at least four radiation-emitting devices in series, the plurality of groups being electrically in parallel. [0016] Another aspect of the present invention is a flexible array that includes a plurality of segments. Each of the segments has a first flexible conductive buss and a second flexible conductive buss, the first buss and the second buss being substantially parallel and not directly in contact with each other. The array also includes a plurality of platforms disposed between the first buss and the second buss, the platforms being connected to the first buss by a first member and to the second buss by a second member, either or both of which may be flexible. At least one electrical device is disposed on at least one platform, and electrically connected to the first buss and the second buss. In an embodiment, the electrical devices are light-emitting diodes. The array further includes a plurality of flexible electrical connectors. At least one of the plurality of electrical connectors is disposed between the first flexible bus of one segment and the first flexible bus of a second segment, and at least one electrical connector being disposed between the second flexible bus of one segment and the second flexible bus of a second segment. [0017] In an embodiment, the plurality of flexible electrical connectors are adapted to position the segments within an elongated probe, the positioning being in one or more geometrical plane. In another embodiment, wherein the first buss and the second buss each have a longitudinal axis, each of the first and the second buss includes a plurality of convolutions along its respective longitudinal axis. In another embodiment, the at least one electrical device emits radiation substantially within a band of wavelengths adapted to treat diseased tissue. [0018] Yet another aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for delivering radiation. The apparatus includes at least one longitudinal array having a first flexible conductive buss and a second flexible conductive buss, the first buss and the second buss being substantially parallel and not directly in contact with each other. The first buss and the second buss each include a plurality of convolutions. A plurality of platforms is disposed between the first buss and the second buss, the platforms being connected to the first buss by a first member and to the second buss by a second member. The apparatus also includes a plurality of radiation-emitting devices, each disposed on one of the plurality of platforms, and electrically coupled to the first buss and the second buss. The array further includes a flexible shaft having a distal end and a proximal end. The shaft includes an outer surface defining at least one groove extending from a location near the distal end to the proximal end. A flexible sheath is located proximate the shaft, the sheath and the at least one groove defining at least one channel, the at least one array disposed in the at least one channel. [0019] The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description, accompanying drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Continue reading about Flexible array... Full patent description for Flexible array Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Flexible array patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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