Installation for delivering heat to all or part of human or animal cell tissue

1. An installation for delivering heat to all or part of human or animal cell tissue by means of a liquid, said installation comprising:

a heating unit for heating said liquid to a vapor state,

an injection unit for injecting liquid into the heating unit,

a means for diffusion of heated liquid inside the tissue,

a means for conveying the heated liquid from the heating unit to the diffusion means,

means for delivering the heated liquid inside the tissue in a vapor state at the diffusion means in a pulsed operation; and

wherein the injection unit is in the form of a chamber which contains the liquid to be injected and in which a piston is moved in translation under the action of an electric or pneumatic actuator whose triggering, travel, force and speed of displacement are determined as a function of a desired rhythm, volume and pressure of injection of the liquid, the chamber communicating with the heating unit by way of a first valve.

2. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the injection unit has means for delivering the heated liquid at a pressure at least equal to a saturation vapor pressure of the liquid to be injected.

3. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the triggering and the travel of the actuator are programmed in order to obtain injected volumes of liquid of between 0.2 and 1 ml at a regular interval of 0.5 to 1 second.

4. The installation as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the force of the actuator is chosen such that the liquid is injected into the heating unit at a pressure greater by at least 50 bar than a saturation vapor pressure of said liquid.

5. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a liquid storage reservoir to supply the chamber of the injection unit, said storage reservoir being separated from the chamber by a second valve.

6. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the heating unit is in the form of a metal coil incorporating an electrical resistor or a heat exchanger around which there is wound a stainless steel tube whose internal diameter is between 0.1 and 0.5 mm, the length of the tube varying between 1500 and 5000 mm.

7. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the heating unit is separated from the conveying means by a valve calibrated to a pressure at least equal to a saturation vapor pressure of the liquid to be injected.

8. The installation as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising a cold water branch circuit having a point of departure positioned between the injection unit and the heating unit, and a point of arrival positioned downstream of the valve, said branch circuit being connected at the point of departure by means of a programmable high-pressure solenoid valve.

9. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the conveying means is in the form of a hollow tube with an internal diameter of between 50 and 150 μm, length of the tube being between 40 and 80 cm.

10. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the diffusion means is in the form of a hollow tube whose distal end is closed off and whose walls are provided in whole or in part with substantially circular apertures having a diameter of between 30 and 70 μm, external diameter of the tube being between 100 and 250 μm, while internal diameter is between 50 and 150 μm.

11. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the diffusion means is in the form of a rigid needle whose distal end is closed off and whose walls have, along all or part of their length, apertures with a diameter of between 30 and 70 μm, internal diameter of the needle being between 0.05 and 0.2 mm, while external diameter is between 0.2 mm and 0.7 mm, length being between 100 and 200 mm.

12. The installation of claim 4 wherein the force of the actuator is chosen such that the liquid is injected into the heating unit at a pressure greater by at least 100 bar than the saturation vapor pressure of said liquid.

13. The installation of claim 10 , wherein said substantially circular apertures have a diameter of 50 μm.

14. A method of administering heat by a liquid to all or part of a human or animal tissue with the installation of claim 1 , the method comprising:

positioning the diffusion means at a level of an organ to be treated;

connecting said diffusion means to the conveying means;

connecting the conveying means to an assembly comprising the heating unit and the injection unit;

programming an actuator of the injection unit for pulsed delivery of heated liquid to the organ;

supplying a chamber of the injection unit with a desired volume of liquid to be injected;

triggering the actuator to initiate the pulsed delivery of the heated liquid; and

withdrawing the diffusion means when the desired volume of water has been injected at a desired temperature.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the pulsed delivery of the heated liquid occurs at a pressure at least equal to a saturation vapor pressure of the liquid to be injected.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said programming comprises programming triggering, travel, speed and force of the actuator as a function of desired rhythm, volume and pressure of injection of the liquid.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein a duration of a last pulse of the pulsed delivery is prolonged for a same volume of liquid in order to heat the diffusion means before withdrawal, whereby dissemination of malignant cells is avoided.