Abstract: The invention relates to a medical cryo-surgical device. Hitherto, such devices have employed the Joule-Thompson cooling effect, liquid nitrogen, or a sprayed volatile liquid. All such devices will serve the required purpose of cooling tissue to the level that will cause ice crystal formation, but all are relatively inefficient. The invention seeks to provide an improved device, an objective met by a construction comprising a primary heat extraction means (1), a secondary heat extraction means (12) associated with a part to be applied to a patient, and a coolant circuit (14) connecting the primary and secondary heat extraction means. The heat extraction means may be thermo-electric devices that can be sequentially or concurrently activated.

Abstract: Disclosed is a medical nebuliser including a container providing a sump area for a liquid drug. A rotor is located in the container, and an impacter ring encircles the rotor. The rotor is formed from two disc shaped components at least one of which is concave. The components have co-operating mating faces machined so that when they are clamped together, microscopic passageways are provided therebetween. There is a connection between the interior of the rotor and a sump to contain liquid to be nebulised. The impacter ring has an impacter face that is an inwardly facing frusto-conical surface to encourage the return of larger droplets to the sump. The frusto-conical surface has a number of ridges in the form of concentric or helical grooves over its length, whereby there is the ejection of liquid drug from within the perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the rotor, of uniform and controlled droplet size which impacts on the ridges on the impacter ring to reduce the droplet size of liquid drug.

Abstract: The invention relates to the atomization of liquids. There are many fields of application where a spray mist or jet of fine droplets is required and where control over droplet size is important. Of particular significance is the medical field and the nebulizing of a drug to be administered to a patient by the inhaled route, where the deposition of the drug and its efficacy is a direct function of the droplet size. The object of the invention is to improve the control over droplet size, an objective met by a method and a construction where liquid is centrifugally forced between the plates forming a rotor, secured together with a spacing to provide an annular orifice or held together in abutting relationship with an ability for pressurized fluid to pass between the plates, the rotation of the rotor causing the forcing of the liquid through the orifice or between the plates and such that the centrifugal force and the Bernoulli effect causes the liquid to issue in the form of droplets of a predetermined size.