Systems and methods with interrupt/resume capabilities for treating subcutaneous lipid-rich cells
Systems for removing heat from a subject's subcutaneous lipid-rich regions, such as tissue, organs, cells, and so forth, are described herein. In various embodiments, the system includes a treatment device and a controller for controlling a treatment process. The controller is configured to detect and compensate for an interruption in the treatment process.
1. A method for treating a subcutaneous lipid-rich region of a subject having skin, comprising:
heating or cooling the subcutaneous lipid-rich region of the subject according to a profile of a treatment process, the profile having a total duration;
identifying an interruption in the treatment process after a first duration,
determining a second duration of the identified interruption;
determining a third duration equal to a difference between the total duration and the first duration;
compensating for (1) rewarming of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region of the subject during the second duration when the subcutaneous lipid-rich region is cooled during the first duration and (2) a temperature decrease in the subcutaneous lipid-rich region when the subcutaneous lipid-rich region is heated during the first duration; and
after compensating for rewarming of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region or the temperature decrease in the subcutaneous lipid-rich region, continuing the treatment process according to the profile for the third duration.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining an interruption temperature (T interrupt ) of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region after the first duration and a rewarming temperature (T rewarm ) of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region after the second duration based on the first and second durations, respectively.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining an interruption temperature (T interrupt ) of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region after the first duration and a rewarming temperature (T rewarm ) of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region after the second duration based on the first and second durations, respectively, wherein the profile is a first profile, and wherein the method further includes determining a second profile having a cooling rate ({dot over (Q)}) calculated as follows:
Q
.
=
ρ
VC
p
(
T
rewarm
-
T
interrupt
)
π
where ρ is a density, V is a volume, and C p is a specific heat capacity of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region; and π is a recovery duration.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining an interruption temperature (T interrupt ) of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region after the first duration and a rewarming temperature (T rewarm ) of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region after the second duration based on the first and second durations, respectively, wherein the profile is a first profile, and wherein the method further includes determining a second profile having an expected rate of change for a temperature at the skin of the subject as follows:
Δ
T
=
(
T
rewarm
-
T
interrupt
)
π
where π is a recovery duration.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein compensating for rewarming includes
monitoring a rate of change for the temperature at the skin of the subject; and
adjusting the second profile for the recovery process if the monitored rate of change deviates from the expected rate of change by a preselected amount.
6. The method of claim 4 wherein compensating for rewarming includes
monitoring a rate of change for the temperature at the skin of the subject; and
adjusting the second profile for the recovery process if the monitored rate of change deviates from the expected rate of change by a preselected percentage.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a compensation cooling/heating rate based on the second duration; and
cooling or heating the subcutaneous lipid-rich region based on the compensation cooling/heating rate to compensate for the rewarming or the temperature decrease of the subcutaneous lipid-rich cells.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether to resume the treatment process after the identified interruption based on the second duration and/or a number of interruption occurrences;
if the determination is to resume the treatment process, the treatment process is continued according to the profile for the third duration; and
if the determination is to not resume the treatment process, the treatment process according to the profile is stopped.
9. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing the method of claim 1 .
10. A method for treating a subcutaneous lipid-rich region of a subject having skin, comprising:
heating or cooling the subcutaneous lipid-rich region of the subject according to a profile of a treatment process, the profile having a total duration;
identifying an interruption in the treatment process after a first duration,
determining an interrupt duration of the interruption;
determining a compensation treatment profile based on the interrupt duration, the compensation treatment profile being different from the profile of the treatment process;
heating or cooling the subcutaneous lipid-rich region according to the compensation treatment profile to compensate for changes in temperature of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region associated with the identified interruption;
determining a third duration based on the total duration and the first duration; and
after compensating for the identified interruption, continuing the treatment process according to the profile based on the third duration.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determine whether to resume the treatment process based on the interrupt duration and/or a number of interruption occurrences;
if the determination is to resume the treatment process, the treatment process is continued according to the profile for the third duration; and
if the determination is to not resume the treatment process, the treatment process is terminated.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the third duration is equal to a difference between the total duration and the first duration.
13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining a recovery cooling/heating rate based on the interrupt duration; and
cooling or heating the subcutaneous lipid-rich region based on the recovery cooling/heating rate to compensate for the temperature changes of the subcutaneous lipid-rich region associated with the identified interruption.