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EP-3863546-B1 - CRYOGENIC APPLICATOR

EP3863546B1EP 3863546 B1EP3863546 B1EP 3863546B1EP-3863546-B1

Inventors

  • GOULKO, OLGA
  • ERGANOKOV, Khasanbi
  • PAVLOV, Valentin

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20191007

Claims (15)

  1. A cryogenic applicator, comprising: a vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen having at least one wall, a top, and a bottom, a vacuum casing (2) having at least one wall, a top, and a bottom, and housing said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and defining a vacuum cavity (8) between an inner surface of said vacuum casing (2) and an exterior surface of said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, a neck (18) extending from the top of said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and through said top of said vacuum casing (2), said neck (18) communicates with said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, at least one capillary (5a-5c) having an inlet (12a) disposed near said bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and extending through said bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and through a bottom space of the vacuum cavity formed by a bottom of said vacuum casing (2), a conduit (9) extending from the bottom of the vacuum casing (2), said conduit (2) housing and guiding said at least one capillary (5a-5c), and a roller mechanism (4, 6, 16), connected to said conduit (9) via slide bearings (15a-15b), wherein the outlet of said at least one capillary (5a-5c) is housed within said roller mechanism (4, 6, 16).
  2. The cryogenic applicator of claim 1, wherein the at least one capillary (5a-5c) includes a forming capillary (5b), a feeding capillary (5a), and a thermo-static capillary (5c).
  3. The cryogenic applicator of claim 1, further comprising a vacuum valve (10) located outside of said vacuum casing (2) and communicating with the vacuum cavity (8).
  4. The cryogenic applicator of claim 1, further comprising a control valve (14) located at the end of said neck (18) communicating with said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen.
  5. The cryogenic applicator of any one of claims 1-4, wherein said vacuum casing (2) has an upper part having a top, a midsection part having the at least one wall, and a bottom part having the bottom.
  6. The cryogenic applicator of claim 5, wherein the upper part and the midsection part of the vacuum casing (2) are fixed to each other hermetically and vacuum-tightly by one or more of welding, soldering or gluing; and the midsection part and the bottom part of the vacuum casing (2) are fixed to each other hermetically and vacuum-tightly by one or more of welding, soldering or gluing.
  7. The cryogenic applicator of any one of claims 1-4, wherein said roller mechanism (4, 6, 16) comprises: an evaporation chamber (6), said evaporation chamber includes an outlet (13a; 13b) of said at least one capillary (5a-5c), a roller retainer (16) having a gap at least with one slide bearing (15a; 15b), and a removable hollow roller (4) that encases the evaporation chamber (6) with radial holes held in place by said slide bearing (15a; 15b) and said roller retainer (16).
  8. The cryogenic applicator of claim 7, wherein the roller (4) comprises a porous biocompatible material.
  9. The cryogenic applicator of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising a hydrogen absorber (20) housed in a chamber having a mesh floor (22b) and disposed on the exterior of said vacuum casing (2) and communicating with the vacuum cavity (8).
  10. The cryogenic applicator of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising a cryo-adsorber (7) housed in a chamber having a mesh floor (22a) and located on the interior bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and communicating with the vacuum cavity (8).
  11. The cryogenic applicator of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising a filter (21) located above the bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, surrounding an inlet (12a; 12b) of the at least one capillary (5a-5c).
  12. The cryogenic applicator of any one of claims 11, wherein the at least one capillary (5a-5c) extends upwards from the inlet (12a; 12b) above the bottom of the vessel (1) to form a U-bend (11) near the top of the vessel (1) and extends downward to the bottom of the vessel (1).
  13. An applicator system comprising the cryogenic applicator of any of the claims 1-4 and a stand (26) and base (24).
  14. A method of cosmetic cryogenic skin treatment using a cryogenic applicator of any one of claims 1-4 for applying a cryogenic fluid to the skin surface, comprising: filling liquid nitrogen into the vessel (1) through a neck (18) disposed near a top part of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; sealing the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen by blocking the neck (18) to create a positive pressure within the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; and applying the roller mechanism (4, 6, 16) to the skin surface to be treated and dispensing liquid nitrogen onto the skin surface by rolling over the skin surface with said roller mechanism (4, 6, 16).
  15. A cryogenic applicator system, comprising: the cryogenic applicator of claim 1, wherein: the vacuum casing (2) having a top part, a midsection part, and a bottom part, said vacuum casing (2) housing said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and defining a vacuum cavity (8) between an inner surface of said vacuum casing (2) and an exterior surface of said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, said bottom part of said vacuum casing (2) forming a vertically inverted flattened cone; the applicator further comprising: vacuum valve (10) located on an exterior surface of the top part of said vacuum casing (2) and communicating with the vacuum cavity (8) between said vacuum casing (2) and said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; the neck (18) extending upward from the top of said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and in communication with said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, said neck (18) having an upper end extending beyond the exterior surface of said vacuum casing (2) and not communicating with the vacuum cavity (8) between said vacuum casing (2) and said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; a control valve (14) disposed near the upper end of said neck (18), said control valve (14) also being a safety valve for pressure relief in the vessel (1) when an operating pressure is exceeded, a gasket disposed in said control valve (14) and tightly engaged therewith; the hollow conduit (9) extending from the bottom part of said vacuum casing (2); an adapter bushing (3) disposed at an end of said conduit (9) opposite to the bottom part of the vacuum casing (2), said adapter bushing (3) having installed therearound a stopper ring (17) with a washer, said adapter bushing (3) connecting said conduit (9) and said vacuum casing (2) to a hollow evaporation chamber (6), said evaporation chamber (6) having radial through holes extending from the hollow interior of said evaporation chamber (6) to the exterior surface of said evaporation chamber (6); a back slide bearing (15a) fixed to said stopper ring (17) with a washer on said adapter bushing (3), comprised of a material with a low friction coefficient at cryogenic temperatures; the removable rotating roller (4) affixed to said back slide bearing (15a), said removable rotating roller (4) having a hollow interior of a sufficient diameter to enclose said evaporation chamber (6), said removable rotating roller (4) held in place on said back slide bearing (15a) by a front slide bearing (15b) fixed to an opposite end of said roller (4) by the roller retainer (16); said roller retainer (16) limiting longitudinal movement of the roller (4) to predetermined gap between the front slide bearing (15b) and the retainer (16), and serving to reduce the heat input to the distal end of the evaporation chamber (6); the at least one capillary comprising: feeding capillary (5a) having an inlet disposed near the bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and extending through and beyond the bottom of said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen and the bottom part of the vacuum casing (2) and the conduit (9), the outlet (13a) of said feeding capillary (5a) terminating inside the hollow interior of said evaporation chamber (6); a forming capillary (5b) encased within said feeding capillary (5a) and having a length equal to or substantially similar to said feeding capillary (5a); and a thermostatic capillary (5c) encasing a length of the part of said feeding capillary (5a) housed within said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; said feeding capillary (5a), said forming capillary (5b), and said thermostatic capillary (5c) having the shape of an inverted U (11) beginning near the bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, extending upwards towards the top of said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, bending near the top of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, and returning downward to the bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen, the applicator further comprising: filter (21) into which the inlet (12a) of said feeding capillary (5a) and forming capillary (5b) is disposed, said filter (21) located near the bottom of said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; a cryo-adsorbent (7) disposed on the bottom of the vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen housed in a chamber with a mesh bottom (22a) , said cryo-adsorbent (7) communicates with the vacuum cavity (8) between said vacuum casing (2) and said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; a hydrogen absorber (20) disposed on the exterior surface of said vacuum casing (2), housed in a chamber with a mesh bottom (22b), said hydrogen absorber (20) communicates with the vacuum cavity (8) between said vacuum casing (2) and said vessel (1) for liquid nitrogen; and the applicator system further comprising: a stand (26) with base (24) including a socket (25) and a support funnel (27) onto which the cryogenic applicator is placed and rests.

Description

This PCT international application claims priority to U.S. Serial No. 62/742,513, which was filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on 08 October 2018. I. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to medical equipment, namely to cryogenic applicators intended to apply a cryogenic fluid, for example liquid nitrogen, to skin surfaces for various cosmetic skin care procedures. II. Background of the Invention Liquid nitrogen (and/or other biocompatible non-toxic cryogenic liquids) has been used nearly for the last one hundred years, as described by the American Academy of Family Physicians (e.g. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2004/0515/p2365.html) for treatment of various problems of the skin and other tissues, and this treatment is known as "cryotherapy" or "cryosurgery". The most frequently cryotherapy is used in dermatology to treat numerous skin problems such as sun damage, skin cancer, keloid scars, acne, various benign skin lesions such as warts, seborrheic keratosis and so on. The boiling temperature of liquid nitrogen is about -321°F. It has been known that use of liquid nitrogen was shown to induce immunological cascade that replaces old cells with new and healthier cells, and this effect is known as apoptosis. This effect is used to treat the skin and can be used to rejuvenate the skin. Recently, cryotherapy has become a more popular procedure and is used in various areas of medicine, for example, cryolipolysis in aesthetic medicine to reduce adipose tissues, cryoablation in cardiology to restore the damaged cardiac muscle, cryosauna in rheumatology to reduce inflammatory processes in arthritis, oncology to cause a "cryoimmunology" effect to deal with various types of cancer (liver, lung, prostate and other organs), and in sports medicine to reduce pain in damaged muscles or ligaments. Some cryotherapeutic procedures can be used at home, for example, non-prescription wart removal devices, such as Freeze Spray. In dermatology the current delivery methods of cryogenic liquid for skin treatment are: use of a cotton swab or spray gun and a contact cryoprobe cooled with liquid nitrogen, nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide. The method used for cryotherapy of the skin is designed to apply liquid nitrogen for significant period of time on the skin. Usually, parts of the skin surface to be treated are exposed to cryogenic liquid action for a period of time from tenths to several tens of seconds or more, depending on the desired treatment effect, which ensures rapid cooling of the skin surface and cryogenic treatment. The document US 4 345 598 describes a cryogenic applicator, comprising a vessel for liquid nitrogen, hermetically connected to a vacuum casing and installed inside a vacuum casing, a conduit terminating in an adapter bushing and evaporation chamber, a replaceable applicator made of a biocompatible porous material, and wherein the evaporation chamber and applicator are connected to the vessel for liquid nitrogen through a feeding capillary, the outlet of which is installed inside a heat exchanger particularly adapted for tumor surgery. The document WO 2007/081400 A1 describes another cryogenic applicator for rejuvenating skin and a treatment for use of the applicator. A barrel is hand-held. A head is rotatably mounted to the barrel. A cryogenic interface fluidly connects the barrel to a source of a biocompatible non-toxic cryogenic fluid to supply the cryogenic fluid through the barrel to the head that in turn sparges the cryogenic fluid onto the skin quickly, evenly, and smoothly when the head is rolled on the skin, and thereby rejuvenate the skin. The treatment includes the step of rolling the head quickly, smoothly, and evenly over the skin being treated for a period of time in an order of hundredths or tenths of a second, and sparging the cryogenic fluid onto the skin quickly, evenly, and smoothly when the head is rolled on the skin, and thereby rejuvenate the skin. The document US 3 333 587 describes a cryosurgical device which comprises a thermally insulated refrigerant storage container having a scalable opening providing access to the interior of the container for filling said container with a vaporizable liquid refrigerant. A non-metallic porous material is positioned within the interior of said container and adapted to hold a vaporizable liquid refrigerant in the liquid phase. A thermally insulated probe is connected to said container and extending outwardly therefrom comprising a hollow, thermally conductive tip member, an enclosed refrigerant supply tube extending from the interior of said container into the tip member, and an enclosed refrigerant exhaust tube extending from said tip member to an exterior outlet provided therefor in a wall of said container. A pressurizing conduit is joined to said container in fluid communication with said non-metallic porous material for introducing pressurized fluid to vaporize said liquid refrigerant for flow to said probe. According to the c