Appeal No. 2000-0827
Application 08/466,104
examiner has failed to show that the class of suitable "existing
techniques" contains eleven or even as many as seven members.
Appellant's argument for written description support for the
"human protein" limitation is based in part on the discussion of
"existing techniques" in the "BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
INVENTION":
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It has been discovered that it is possible to
identify chemical systems where extremely small gas
bubbles are not reactive in an aqueous solution.
Relying on the method disclosed herein one skilled in
the art may specially select particular gases based on
their physical and chemical properties for use in
ultrasound imaging. These gases can be used to produce
the contrast-enhancing media that is [sic] also the
subject matter of this invention. The microbubbles can
be produced using certain existing techniques that use
ordinary air, and can be infused as in a conventional
ultrasound diagnosis.
The method that is the subject matter of this
invention requires that calculations be made,
consistent with the equations provided herein, based on
the intrinsic physical properties of a gas and a
liquid. Particularly, the density of a gas, the
solubility of a gas in solution, and the diffusivity of
a gas in solution, which in turn is dependent on the
molar volume of the gas and the viscosity of the
solution, are used in the equations disclosed below.
Thus, by the method disclosed herein, the physical
properties of a given gas-liquid system can be
evaluated, the rate and extent of bubble collapse can
be estimated, and gases that would constitute effective
contrast-enhancing agents can be selected based on
these calculations. Using existing techniques,
substantially improved contrast-enhancing media may
then be produced and used to improve the quality and
usefulness of ultrasound imaging.
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