Megahertz compression of nanosecond pulse bursts
Methods and apparatuses (systems, devices, etc.) for treating biological tissue to evoke one or more desirable biological and/or physiological effects using pulsed electric fields in the sub-microsecond range at very low electric field strength (e.g., less than 1 kV/cm) but at high (e.g., megahertz) frequencies.
1. A system for delivery of electrical pulses using megahertz compression to reduce an electrical energy threshold needed to evoke a biological effect, the system comprising:
a controller;
an applicator comprising a plurality of electrodes adapted to be placed in proximity to a cell or biological tissue; and
one or more pulse generators, wherein the one or more pulse generators are each configured to generate a sub-microsecond pulse having a duration of less than 1000 ns,
wherein the controller is configured to apply, via the applicator, at a frequency equal or greater than 0.1 megahertz (MHz), a first train of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses from a first set of electrodes and a second train of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses from a second set of electrodes, and wherein the first train and the second train are biologically ineffective and configured to result in superposition to create biologically effective unipolar pulses in a region that is remote from the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to apply the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses at a frequency equal or greater than 1 MHz.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses each has a field strength of less than 1 kV/cm.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to apply the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses wherein the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses each has an electric field strength 800 V/cm or less.
5. The system of claim 1 , further wherein the one or more pulse generators comprises a plurality of pulse generators, further wherein the controller is configured to coordinate the plurality of pulse generators to combine sub-microsecond pulses from each of the plurality of pulse generators to form the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the one or more pulse generators so that voltage of the sub-microsecond pulses of the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses is equal or less than 20V.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to receive one or more user inputs to set or select the frequency of the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to receive one or more user inputs to set or select voltage of the sub-microsecond pulses of the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to receive one or more user inputs to select the duration of the sub-microsecond pulses of the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises needle electrodes.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the applicator is configured to be a hand-held applicator.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more pulse generators are configured to generate a sub-microsecond pulse having a duration of between 1 ns and 900 ns.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises:
one or more processors; and
a machine-readable tangible medium storing a set of instructions for causing the one or more processors to execute operations for:
delivering a high-frequency, sub-microsecond, pulsed electric field to the biological tissue, wherein the pulsed electric field is pulsed at 0.1 MHz or greater, further wherein each pulse of the pulsed electric field has a duration of less than 1000 ns.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the set of instructions is further configured to cause the one or more processors to coordinate the one or more pulse generators to generate the high-frequency, sub-microsecond, pulsed electric field.
15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses each has a field strength of less than 500 V/cm.
16. The system of claim 1 , wherein pulses of the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses are damped.
17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control a duty cycle of the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses.
18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the applicator is configured to evoke a biological effect of electrical stimulation, poration, or a combination thereof.
19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the biological effect is killing the cell or the biological tissue.
20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cell or biological tissue is one or more of: skin, liver, kidney, neuronal, brain, spine, lung, muscle, adipose, respiratory, gastrointestinal, bladder, and reproductive.
21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cell or biological tissue comprises isolated cells.
22. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cell or biological tissue comprises a tumor.
23. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to apply the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses at a frequency equal to 0.5 MHz or greater.
24. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second train is phase-shifted relative to the first train.
25. A system for delivery of electrical pulses using megahertz compression to reduce an electrical energy threshold needed to evoke a biological effect, the system comprising:
a controller;
an applicator comprising a plurality of electrodes adapted to be placed in proximity to a cell or biological tissue; and
one or more pulse generators, wherein the one or more pulse generators are each configured to generate a sub-microsecond pulse having a duration of less than 1000 ns,
wherein the controller is configured to apply, via the applicator, a first train of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses from a first set of electrodes and a second train of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses from a second set of electrodes, wherein the first train and the second train are biologically ineffective and are configured to result in superposition to create biologically effective unipolar pulses in a region that is remote from the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes, further wherein the controller is configured to limit a frequency of pulses of the first and second trains of sub-microsecond bipolar pulses to between 0.1 megahertz (MHz) and 100 MHz.