Appeal No. 2006-3202 Page 13
Application No. 10/323,592
out the smaller temperature deviations (e.g., 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, etc.) from being
Casscells’ biological noise.
It is also not apparent what the “lowest” and “highest” values in Tables 1 and 2
represent. The “lowest value” (reference) temperature is less than 0°C in 19 of the 21
patients. We assume that blood vessel temperature is not less than 0°C (or even just
above 0°C); consequently, the listed values must represent something other than the
vessel temperature, but it is not clear from the description what this is.
4) Is motivation to have improved the method of Casscells ‘261 provided by
Casscells ‘075?6
According to Casscells ‘261, an estimated 35% of patients who have died
suddenly from a heart attack have no active symptoms or diagnosis with coronary artery
disease. Casscells ‘261, column 1, lines 37-42. Rupture of inflamed atherosclerotic
plaques is an immediate cause of these heart attacks. Id., column 1, lines 45-47.
Casscells ‘261 describes its method as useful for identifying the presence of inflamed
plaques before they rupture, so that steps may be taken to avoid the occurrence of a
potentially fatal cardiovascular event. Id., column 5, lines 39-44. The Examiner should
consider whether normal desire of a physician to improve patient diagnosis and
outcome in a fatal disease would have motivated him to extend the method’s sensitivity
to as low as possible, including values less than about 0.2°C, but above 0°C.
In the instant application, Appellants refer to Casscells’ earlier work, including
Casscells ‘075, for the teaching that elevated temperatures are associated with
vulnerable plaques, particularly regions “described as being “0.4 to 2.2°C warmer.”
6 Casscells et al. (Casscells ‘075), U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,075, issued Aug. 10, 1999.
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