OBTAINING MEASUREMENTS OF MUSCLE REFLEXES FOR DIAGNOSIS OF PATIENT SYMPTOMS
First Claim
1. An apparatus for measuring a patient reflex, comprising:
- a probe having an electromechanical assembly with a patient contacting portion, and a housing operatively attached to the assembly for contacting the patient contacting portion to a predetermined body area of a patient;
wherein the patient contacting portion is configured for providing a mechanical response when contacting the predetermined body area;
wherein the mechanical response activates a sensor for the probe for generating an electrical response indicative of the contact;
wherein the electrical response is used to identify a collection of electrical responses from a plurality of electrodes placed on the patient'"'"'s skin, the collection being indicative of a patient reflex;
wherein information representative of at least one of (a) through (d) following is determined;
(a) a time delay between the mechanical response and the collection, (b) a time duration for the collection, (c) a value indicative of a magnitude of at least one electrical response of the collection, and (d) an attenuation in the electrical responses of the collection.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method is disclosed for measuring muscle reflexes (e.g., a bulbocavernosus reflex) as a tool for identifying/diagnosing dysfunctions (e.g., spinal cord abnormalities, bladder voiding dysfunction, and sexual organ dysfunction) non-invasively by using mechanical stimulation. The system and method includes a probe having a predetermined patient contacting portion, wherein when the contacting portion is moved into contact with a particular area of the patient (e.g., the patient'"'"'s genitals), the contact induces a muscle reflex. The probe detects the pressure resulting from the contacting portion being abruptly and forcibly brought into contact with the particular area. Such detection is used to electronically initiate capture of electrical responses from a plurality of electrodes placed on the patient'"'"'s skin in proximity to the particular area. Such electrical responses are processed to determine characteristics of the patient'"'"'s reflexes of one or more muscles adjacent to the electrodes.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for measuring a patient reflex, comprising:
-
a probe having an electromechanical assembly with a patient contacting portion, and a housing operatively attached to the assembly for contacting the patient contacting portion to a predetermined body area of a patient; wherein the patient contacting portion is configured for providing a mechanical response when contacting the predetermined body area; wherein the mechanical response activates a sensor for the probe for generating an electrical response indicative of the contact; wherein the electrical response is used to identify a collection of electrical responses from a plurality of electrodes placed on the patient'"'"'s skin, the collection being indicative of a patient reflex; wherein information representative of at least one of (a) through (d) following is determined;
(a) a time delay between the mechanical response and the collection, (b) a time duration for the collection, (c) a value indicative of a magnitude of at least one electrical response of the collection, and (d) an attenuation in the electrical responses of the collection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method of measuring a patient reflex, comprising:
-
providing a probe having an electromechanical assembly with a patient contacting portion, and a housing operatively attached to the assembly for positioning contacting the patient contacting portion to a predetermined body area of a patient; wherein the mechanical response activates a sensor for the probe for generating an electrical response indicative of the contact; wherein the electrical response is used to identify a collection of electrical responses from a plurality of electrodes placed on the patient'"'"'s skin, the collection being indicative of a patient reflex; wherein information representative of at least one of (a) through (d) following is determined;
(a) a time delay between the mechanical response and the collection, (b) a time duration for the collection, (c) a value indicative of a magnitude of at least one electrical response of the collection, and (d) an attenuation in the electrical responses of the collection.
-
-
23. A method of manufacturing a probe for measuring a bulbocavernosus reflex, comprising:
-
aligning an electromechanical member for detecting a pressure, with a transfer mechanism for transferring mechanical pressure from a patient contacting portion of the transfer mechanism when a force is applied to the patient contacting portion, wherein a housing surrounds at least a portion of transfer mechanism; providing a biasing component for biasing at least a portion of the transfer mechanism so as to prevent the pressure from being transmitted to the electromechanical member; wherein the biasing of the biasing component is overcome when the force is applied to the patient contacting portion; providing a conductor for transmitting, from the electromechanical member a signal indicative of the transfer of the pressure from the patient contacting portion; wherein when the probe is positioned so that a contact of the patient contacting portion and a predetermined body area of a patient occurs, the contact results in a pressure being applied to the electromechanical member; wherein the signal is used to identify a collection of electrical responses from a plurality of electrodes placed on the patient'"'"'s skin, the collection being indicative of the bulbocavernosus reflex; and wherein information representative of at least one of (a) through (d) following is determined;
(a) a time delay between the response and the collection, (b) a time duration for the collection, (c) a value indicative of a magnitude of at least one electrical response of the collection, and (d) an attenuation in the electrical responses of the collection. - View Dependent Claims (24, 31)
-
-
25. A method for measuring a bulbocavernosus reflex, comprising:
-
providing a probe having an electromechanical assembly and a housing operatively attached to the assembly for positioning a patient contacting portion of the electromechanical assembly; wherein when the probe is positioned so that a contact of the patient contacting portion and a predetermined patient genital area occurs, the contact results in pressure from the electromechanical assembly being transmitted to the genital area for inducing a bulbocavernosus reflex; activating a sensor for the probe for generating an electromagnetic response indicative of the contact; using the response to identify a collection of electrical responses from a plurality of electrodes placed on the patient'"'"'s skin adjacent to the genital area, the collection being indicative of the bulbocavernosus reflex; outputting information representative of at least one of characteristics (a) through (d) following;
(a) a time delay between the response and the collection are output with information, (b) a time duration for the collection, (c) a value indicative of a magnitude of at least one electrical response of the collection, and (d) an attenuation in the electrical responses of the collection; andstoring in the probe data indicative of a history of an activation of the probe. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
Specification