Method and computer program product for assessing neurological conditions and treatments using evoked response potentials
First Claim
1. A method of facilitating the diagnosis of a neurological disorder, comprising the steps of:
- (a) performing a plurality of evoked response potential (ERP) trials on a patient under assessment;
(b) generating a plurality of projections of ERP data, wherein the ERP data is derived from the plurality of ERP trials performed on the patient under assessment; and
(c) conducting a weighted vote process that is based on the projections, to aid in determining the presence of the neurological disorder.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method is provided for diagnosing the presence of a neurological disorder or otherwise assessing the neurological condition of a patient. The method also allows the assessment of a treatment regimen used by a patient. The method includes the collection and analysis of ERP data. The method of the invention begins by conducting a plurality of ERP trials on a patient. In an embodiment of the invention, the data from the ERP trials is then characterized to produce a characterizing ERP signal vector for the patient. Projections based on the characterizing ERP signal vector are then generated. The projections are compared to information derived from the ERP data of patients having known neurological conditions. To perform diagnosis, the projections are compared to standards, such as one or more characterizing ERP signal vectors from known healthy patients, and one or more characterizing ERP signal vectors from patients known to have the disorder. The probable presence or absence of the neurological disorder is decided by a weighted vote of the projections, where the weighting is a function of how closely each projection compares to the respective standards. Projections can also be used to perform other types of neurological assessment, such as tracking a patient'"'"'s response to a treatment regimen, assessing the treatability of a patient with respect to a particular regimen, determining the effects of a particular regimen, or categorizing a patient in order to create a homogenous group for a clinical trial.
20 Citations
63 Claims
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1. A method of facilitating the diagnosis of a neurological disorder, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing a plurality of evoked response potential (ERP) trials on a patient under assessment;
(b) generating a plurality of projections of ERP data, wherein the ERP data is derived from the plurality of ERP trials performed on the patient under assessment; and
(c) conducting a weighted vote process that is based on the projections, to aid in determining the presence of the neurological disorder. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in the medium for causing an application program to execute on a computer that facilitates the diagnosis of a neurological disorder, the computer readable program code means comprising:
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(a) first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to characterize evoked response potential (ERP) signals obtained from a plurality of ERP trials conducted on a patient under assessment, to produce a characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient under assessment;
(b) second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to generate a plurality of projections of the characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient under assessment;
(c) third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare each projection with characterizing ERP signal vectors from other patients; and
(d) fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to conduct a weighted vote process that is based on comparison results of each projection, to aid in determining the probable presence of the neurological disorder.
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13. A method of facilitating determination of treatability, with respect to a first treatment regimen, of a patient under assessment, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing a plurality of evoked response potential (ERP) trials on the patient under assessment;
(b) generating a plurality of projections of ERP data, wherein the ERP data is derived from the plurality of ERP trials performed on the patient under assessment; and
(c) comparing the plurality of projections to data collected from at least one other patient, to aid in assessing the likely responsiveness of the patient under assessment to the first treatment regimen. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in the medium for causing an application program to execute on a computer that facilitates the assessment of the likely responsiveness of a patient under assessment to a treatment regimen, the computer readable program code means comprising:
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(a) first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to characterize evoked response potential (ERP) signals obtained from a plurality of ERP trials, to produce a characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient under assessment;
(b) second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to generate a plurality of projections of the characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient under assessment; and
(c) third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare each projection with characterizing ERP signal vectors from other patients to aid in determining the probable treatability of the patient having a neurological disorder with respect to the treatment regimen, where the determination is based on comparison results of each projection.
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24. A method of monitoring the response, to a treatment regimen, of a patient being treated for a neurological disorder, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing a plurality of evoked response potential (ERP) trials on the patient being treated;
(b) generating a plurality of projections of ERP data, wherein the ERP data is derived from the plurality of ERP trials performed on the patient being treated; and
(c) comparing the plurality of projections to data collected from at least one other patient, to aid in assessing the current condition of the patient being treated, as indicated by the projections, after beginning the treatment regimen. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code means embodied in the medium for causing an application program to execute on a computer that facilitates the assessment of a current condition of a patient being treated for a neurological disorder after beginning a treatment regimen, the computer readable code means comprising:
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(a) first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to characterize evoked response potential (ERP) signals obtained from a plurality of ERP trials performed on the patient being treated, to produce a characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient being treated;
(b) second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to generate a plurality of projections of the characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient being treated; and
(c) third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare each projection with characterizing ERP signal vectors from other patients to aid in determining the probable current condition of the patient being treated, where the determination is based on comparison results of each projection.
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36. A method of assessing a patient with respect to the nature and extent of side effects experienced in response to a treatment regimen, wherein the patient is being treated for a neurological disorder, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing a plurality of evoked response potential (ERP) trials on the patient under assessment;
(b) generating a plurality of projections of ERP data, wherein the ERP data is derived from the plurality of ERP trials performed on the patient under assessment; and
(c) comparing the plurality of projections to data collected from at least one other patient, to aid in assessing the nature and extent of the side affects as indicated by the projections. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in the medium for causing an application program to execute on a computer that facilitates the assessment of the nature and extent of side affects resulting from a treatment regimen, the computer readable program code means comprising:
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(a) first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to characterize evoked response potential (ERP) signals obtained from a plurality of ERP trials performed on a patient under assessment, to produce a characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient under assessment;
(b) second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to generate a plurality of projections of the characterizing ERP signal vector of the patient under assessment; and
(c) third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare each projection with characterizing ERP signal vectors from other patients to aid in determining the probable nature and extent of side affects resulting from the treatment regimen, wherein the determination is based on comparison results of each projection.
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46. A method of assessing the results of a treatment regimen for a neurological disorder, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing a plurality of evoked response potential (ERP) trials on a test patient afflicted with the neurological disorder and treated with the test regimen;
(b) generating a plurality of projections of ERP data, wherein the ERP data is derived from the plurality of ERP trials performed on the test patient; and
(c) comparing the plurality of projections to data collected from at least one other patient, to aid in determining the neurological condition of the test patient as indicated by the projections. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in the medium for causing an application program to execute on a computer that facilitates the assessment of the results of a treatment regimen for a neurological disorder, the computer readable program code means comprising:
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(a) first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to characterize evoked response potential (ERP) signals obtained from a plurality of ERP trials performed on a test patient to produce a characterizing ERP signal vector of the test patient;
(b) second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to generate a plurality of projections of the characterizing ERP signal vector of the test patient; and
(c) third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare each projection with characterizing ERP signal vectors from other patients to aid in determining the probable neurological condition of the test patient resulting from the treatment regimen, wherein the determination is based on comparison results of each projection.
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56. A method of determining an enrollment of subjects in a study of a neurological treatment, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing a plurality of evoked response potential (ERP) trials on a candidate;
(b) plotting the candidate in an information space on the basis of data collected during the ERP trials;
(c) identifying the candidate as an outlying candidate if the plot of the candidate is sufficiently distant from a plot representing at least one other candidate; and
(d) identifying the outlying candidate as a candidate to be excluded from the study. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in the medium for causing an application program to execute on a computer that facilitates the determination of enrollment of subjects in a study of a neurological treatment, the computer-readable program code means comprising:
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(a) first computer-readable code means for causing the computer to characterize evoked response potential (ERP) signals obtained from a plurality of ERP trials performed on a candidate to produce a characterizing ERP signal vector of the candidate;
(b) second computer-readable code means for causing the computer to plot the candidate in an information space on the basis of the characterizing ERP signal vector;
(c) third computer-readable program code means for causing the computer to identify the candidate as an outlying candidate if the plot of the candidate is sufficiently distant from a plot representing at least one other candidate.
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Specification