Cranial nerve stimulation to treat eating disorders

• US 20070093870A1
• Filed: 10/25/2005
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LivaNova USA, Inc. (LivaNova Plc)
• Original Assignee: Cyberonics, Inc
• Inventors: Maschino, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,455 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36085 Eating disorders or obesity

Abstract

Methods and systems of treating a patient having an eating disorder involving coupling at least one electrode to at least one cranial nerve of the patient, implanting a sensory stimulation device in the patient, applying a sensory stimulus to the patient using the sensory stimulation device, detecting the patient'"'"'s response to the sensory stimulus, and applying an electrical signal to the cranial nerve using the electrode after detecting the response to treat the eating disorder. The methods and systems are effective in treating bulimia.

Claims

1. A method of treating a patient having an eating disorder using an implantable medical device, comprising:

applying a sensory stimulus to said patient using said implantable medical device;

detecting said patient'"'"'s response to said sensory stimulus, and applying an electrical signal to a portion of a vagus nerve of said patient in response to detecting the response to treat the eating disorder.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein treating the eating disorder comprises treating bulimia, a motility disorder, a gastric disorder, an acid secretions disorder, chronic nausea, anorexia nervosa, compulsive overeating disorder, and binge overeating disorder.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein treating the eating disorder comprises treating bulimia.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a programmable electrical signal generator coupled to an electrode, and wherein applying an electrical signal to a portion of the vagus nerve comprises generating an electrical signal with the electrical signal generator and applying the electrical signal to the electrode.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising programming the electrical signal generator to define the electrical signal by at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a current magnitude, a pulse frequency, a pulse width, an on-time, and an off-time, wherein the parameter is selected to treat the eating disorder.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the patient'"'"'s response to the sensory stimulus is performed by the patient.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the electrical signal to the vagus nerve is performed during a first treatment period, and further comprising the step of applying a second electrical signal to the vagus nerve using the electrode during a second treatment period.

8. A method of treating a patient having an eating disorder, comprising:

coupling at least one electrode to at least one vagus nerve of the patient,

providing a programmable electrical signal generator coupled to the electrode,

generating an electrical signal with the electrical signal generator,

applying the electrical signal to the electrode to treat the eating disorder,

providing a sensory stimulation device,

generating a sensory stimulus signal with the sensory stimulation device,

applying the sensory stimulus to the patient, and

detecting the patient'"'"'s response to the sensory stimulus, wherein the applying the electrical signal to the vagus nerve is initiated in response to detecting the response.

9. A computer readable program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method, comprising:

applying a sensory stimulus to a patient,

detecting the patient'"'"'s response to the sensory stimulus,

generating an electrical signal, and

applying the electrical signal to a vagus nerve of the patient to treat an eating disorder, wherein applying the electrical signal is initiated in response to detecting the response.

10. The computer readable program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform the method of claim 9, wherein the electrical signal is a controlled current electrical signal.

11. The computer readable program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform the method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises programming an electrical signal generator to define the electrical signal by at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a current magnitude, a pulse frequency, a pulse width, an on-time, and an off-time, wherein the parameter is selected to treat the eating disorder.

12. An eating disorder treatment system, comprising:

at least one electrode coupled to at least one vagus nerve of a patient,

an implantable device operatively coupled to the electrode and comprising an electrical signal generator capable of applying an electrical signal to the vagus nerve using the electrode to treat the eating disorder, and

a sensory stimulus device capable of applying a sensory stimulus to the patient.

13. The eating disorder treatment system of claim 12, wherein the sensory stimulus device is part of the implantable device.

14. The eating disorder treatment system of claim 12, wherein the electrical signal generator is a programmable electrical signal generator capable of defining the electrical signal by at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a current magnitude, a pulse frequency, a signal width, an on-time, and an off-time, wherein the parameter is selected to treat the eating disorder.

15. The eating disorder treatment system of claim 12, wherein the sensory stimulus device applies a sensory stimulus to determine a pain threshold of the patient.

16. The eating disorder treatment system of claim 12, further comprising a detection communicator capable of delivering at least one signal to the electrical signal generator, and wherein the electrical signal generator is capable of applying the electrical signal on receipt of the at least one signal from the detection communicator.

17. The eating disorder treatment system of claim 16, wherein the at least one signal communicated by the detection communicator is generated by the patient in response to a sensory stimulus applied by the sensory stimulus device.

18. The eating disorder treatment system of claim 12, further comprising a patient recording device capable of recording patient data and storing said patient data in the implantable device.

19. A method of treating a patient having an eating disorder using an implantable medical device, comprising:

applying a sensory stimulus to said patient using said implantable medical device;

detecting said patient'"'"'s response to said sensory stimulus,

determining if a tolerance level has been reached based upon said patient'"'"'s response; and

applying an electrical signal to a portion of a vagus nerve of said patient to treat said eating disorder based upon the determination of whether the tolerance level has been reached.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising increasing a parameter relating to said sensory signal based upon a determination that said tolerance level has not been reached.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein determining if said tolerance level has been reached comprises determining if said tolerance relating to at least one of a noxious tolerance, a pain tolerance, a temperature tolerance, and a discomfort tolerance has been reached.

22. A method of treating a patient having an eating disorder using an implantable medical device, comprising:

applying a stimulus to said patient using said implantable medical device;

detecting at least one response selected from the group consisting of a refractory period, a signal latency, a synaptic latency, jitter, and a conduction delay resulting from said stimulus;

comparing said at least one response resulting from said stimulus to at least one response associated with a predetermined threshold to detect a change in said response; and

applying an electrical signal to a portion of a vagus nerve of said patient based upon said change in said response.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein detecting said refractory period comprises detecting a time period after an action potential is induced in a nerve of the patient.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein detecting said conduction delay comprises measuring a time period between the neuronal transmission of an action potential in a nerve of the patient and the arrival of a resultant signal at a target location corresponding to said neuronal transmission.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein detecting said signal latency comprises detecting a time period of apparent inactivity between the time a stimulus signal is applied and the time a response occurs.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein detecting said jitter comprises detecting variability in said latency of neuronal transmission.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein detecting said synaptic latency comprises detecting a time period between delivery of a stimulus signal and the arrival of the synaptic event at a target location.