Systems and methods for evaluation of neuropathologies

• US 10,258,291 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2013
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Original Assignee: Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Inventors: Coleman, Todd Prentice, Mendoza, Marcela, Tantiongloc, Justin, Gil Da Costa, Ricardo, Albright, Thomas D., Stoner, Gene, Fung, Raynard
• Primary Examiner(s): Natnithithadha, Navin
• Application Number:
  US14/441,826
• Publication Number:
  US 20150305686A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,982 Days
• Field of Search: 600544, 600545
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/40 Animals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/168 Evaluating attention deficit, hyperactivity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/291 for electroencephalography [EEG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/377 using evoked responses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/378 Visual stimuli
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/38 Acoustic or auditory stimuli
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/381 Olfactory or gustatory stimuli
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4011 Evaluating olfaction, i.e. sense of smell
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4017 Evaluating sense of taste
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4082 Diagnosing or monitoring movement diseases, e.g. Parkinson, Huntington or Tourette
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4088 Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4094 Diagnosing or monitoring seizure diseases, e.g. epilepsy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4836 Diagnosis combined with treatment in closed-loop systems or methods A61B5/0036 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4848 Monitoring or testing the effects of treatment, e.g. of medication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7203 for noise prevention, reduction or removal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 : for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for evaluating vulnerability, disease progression, and treatments in neuropathologies. In one aspect, a method to provide an assessment related to a neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder includes selecting a profile category indicative of one or more aspects of cognitive or sensory functions associated with a neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder, presenting a sequence of stimuli to a subject, in which the sequence of stimuli is based on the selected profile category, acquiring physiological signals of the subject before, during, and after the presenting of the sequence of stimuli to produce physiological data, and processing the physiological data to generate an information set including one or more quantitative values associated with the selected profile category.

Claims

1. A system for evaluating neurological or neuropsychiatric disorders, comprising:

a stimulus delivery device to produce a sequence of stimuli that is presented to a subject, wherein the stimuli includes at least one of a visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, or gustatory stimulating medium;

a sensor device interfaced to the subject to detect physiological signals exhibited by the subject before, during, and after a presentation of the sequence of stimuli, the sequence of stimuli based on a cognitive-sensory profile category indicative of one or more aspects of cognitive or sensory functions associated with a neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder;

a data processing system in communication with the sensor device and structured to include one or more memory units and one or more processors configured to process the physiological signals as physiological data to generate an information set including one or more quantitative values associated with the cognitive-sensory profile category, the one or more quantitative values including a quantitative score depicting a level of the subject'"'"'s vulnerability to or progressive pathology of the neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder; and

a brain-machine interface module in communication with the data processing system and the stimulus delivery device to adaptively modify the sequence of stimuli individualized with respect to the subject during an on-going presentation of the stimuli to the subject based on data associated with or derived from the generated information set.

2. The system as in claim 1, wherein the data processing system includes:

a local computer located proximate and in communication with the sensor device to receive the detected physiological signals from the sensor device, the local computer configured to conduct initial processing of the detected physiological signals to produce initial physiological signal data, and

a remote computer in communication with the local computer via a communication network or link to receive the initial physiological signal data from the local computer and to process the initial physiological signal data to generate the information set including one or more quantitative values associated with the cognitive-sensory profile category.

3. The system as in claim 2, wherein the brain machine interface module is resident on the local computer in communication with the stimulus delivery device and is configured to determine the sequence of stimuli to be presented to the subject based on the cognitive-sensory profile category.

4. The system as in claim 3, wherein the brain machine interface module resident on the local computer is configured to receive data associated with or derived from the generated information set and to modify administration of a treatment associated with the neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder to the subject during the on-going presentation of the sequence of stimuli that is individualized with respect to the subject.

5. The system as in claim 1, wherein the stimulus delivery device includes one or both of a display screen to generate a sequence of images and a speaker to generate a sequence of sounds.

6. The system as in claim 1, wherein the stimulus delivery device includes an actuator to generate a sequence of at least one of olfactory, tactile, or gustatory stimuli.

7. The system as in claim 1, wherein the neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder includes at least one of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Alzheimer'"'"'s disease, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson'"'"'s disease, or Huntington'"'"'s disease.

8. The system as in claim 1, wherein the quantitative score depicts the level at a particular time corresponding to the acquiring of the physiological signals of the subject.

9. The system as in claim 1, wherein the one or more aspects of cognitive or sensory functions include at least one of attention, memory, learning ability, confabulation characteristics, pattern integration ability, semantic integration ability, target detection ability, emotional valence, preference, or awareness state.

10. The system as in claim 1, wherein the subject is undergoing a treatment to the neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder during the detection of the subject'"'"'s physiological signals.

11. The system as in claim 10, wherein the data processing system is configured to process the physiological data to generate the information set to include one or more quantitative values associated with the cognitive-sensory profile category indicative of the efficacy of the treatment for the subject.

12. The system as in claim 11, wherein the treatment includes at least one of a pharmacological agent, electroconvulsive therapy, a cognitive rehabilitation therapy, or a surgical treatment, and wherein the data processing system is configured to produce a machine procedure based on the generated information set, and wherein the machine procedure actuates another device or system to administer the treatment derived from information contained within the generated information set.

13. The system as in claim 1, wherein the sensor device includes a flexible substrate, sensor electrodes on the flexible substrate, and a transmitter unit in electrical communication with the electrodes and on the flexible substrate, wherein the sensor device is configured as one or more wearable patches worn on the subject'"'"'s scalp to record electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and transmit the recorded EEG signals to at least one of the data processing unit or a remote computer system.

14. The system as in claim 1, wherein the sensor device includes electrodes attachable to the subject to receive electrical signals from the subject.

15. The system as in claim 1, wherein the sensor device includes an imaging device that captures images of the subject indicating a motion or movement of the subject.

16. The system as in claim 15, wherein the imaging device captures eye movement of the subject.