1. US20220008276 - Pressure Differential-, Ultrasound-, and Magnetic-Based Methods for Treating Viral Infections and other Pathogenic Diseases, Sterilizing Medical Equipment, and Enhancing Fatty Tissue Reduction

The present disclosure is directed to methods of treating subject patients (such as humans, animals, plants) suffering from a pathogenic disease such as COVID-19 in humans, via the administration of pressure changes in the patient sufficient to cause a pressure differential to be created between the inside and outside of the outer membrane or envelope of the pathogen thereby destroying or disabling the pathogen. In one embodiment, a hyperbaric chamber is used to administer pressure increases and/or pressure decreases to create such pressure differential. The hyperbaric chamber could comprise a single user or multi-user unit, a pressurized body suit, or the pressurizable fuselage of an aircraft. In another embodiment, patients are placed in an aircraft, and the cabin pressure, while on the ground, or in flight, is adjusted upwardly or downwardly to create such pressure differential. The pressure differential methods can also include the use of external gases to enter the patient's body and/or lungs to facilitate disruption of the pathogen outer membrane as well as application of variations in temperature and/or humidity. A mobile treatment unit is also disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of using ultrasonic cavitation or MRI (or other sonic or magnetic field forces sufficient to disrupt the functionality of the pathogen), or a combination of ultrasound and MRI on the exterior of a patient in a desired anatomical region of the patient to assist with the destruction or disabling of a pathogen infecting that anatomical region of the patient, e.g., the patient's lungs, said method being employed at ambient pressures or in an increased or decreased pressure environment created within a hyperbaric chamber. The ultrasound and/or MRI methodologies could also be used to treat other pathogenically afflicted areas of the patient's body. Additionally, a pressure-differential method of sterilization of medical equipment is disclosed employing a hyperbaric or other pressure or vacuum chamber. Also disclosed is an enhanced method of nonsurgical fat reduction in humans by employing ultrasonic cavitation within a hyperbaric chamber, including the use of HBOT therapies. Furthermore, the use of these methodologies and systems have application in treatment of patients post-infection and in other areas of medicine and health, such as for example, treating wounds, the effects of aging, inflammation, and the effects of other maladies.