SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTING NEURAL MODULATION CONTACTS FROM AMONG MULTIPLE CONTACTS
First Claim
1. A method for treating a patient, comprising:
- implanting a signal delivery device proximate to a patient'"'"'s spinal cord, the signal delivery device having eight contacts positioned to deliver neural modulation signals to the patient;
during a trial period;
(a) selecting a first contact;
(b) selecting a second contact immediately neighboring the first contact;
(c) delivering neural modulation signals to the patient via the first and second contacts;
(c) evaluating a performance characteristic of the neural modulation signals;
(d) repeating operations (a)-(c) with (i) a different first contact, (ii) a different second contact, or (iii) both a different first contact and a different second contact, until neural modulation signals have been applied to all pairs of neighboring contacts;
(e) without delivering neural modulation signals via any other combinations of contacts, selecting a pair of contacts for extended therapy; and
applying the neural modulation signals to the patient'"'"'s spinal cord via the selected pair of contacts at a frequency of from about 3 kHz to about 50 kHz.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present technology is directed generally to systems and methods for selecting neural modulation contacts from among multiple contacts. A system in accordance with a particular embodiment includes a patient implantable signal delivery system having (n) contacts positioned to deliver therapy signals to a patient, where (n) is greater than three, and an external signal generator coupled to the signal delivery device and having a computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, perform the operations of (a) identifying a contact pair, (b) delivering neural modulation signals to the contact pair, (c) changing one or more of the contacts of the contact pair, and (d) repeating operations (b)-(c) for each of at most (n−1) unique contact pairs.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for treating a patient, comprising:
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implanting a signal delivery device proximate to a patient'"'"'s spinal cord, the signal delivery device having eight contacts positioned to deliver neural modulation signals to the patient; during a trial period; (a) selecting a first contact; (b) selecting a second contact immediately neighboring the first contact; (c) delivering neural modulation signals to the patient via the first and second contacts; (c) evaluating a performance characteristic of the neural modulation signals; (d) repeating operations (a)-(c) with (i) a different first contact, (ii) a different second contact, or (iii) both a different first contact and a different second contact, until neural modulation signals have been applied to all pairs of neighboring contacts; (e) without delivering neural modulation signals via any other combinations of contacts, selecting a pair of contacts for extended therapy; and applying the neural modulation signals to the patient'"'"'s spinal cord via the selected pair of contacts at a frequency of from about 3 kHz to about 50 kHz. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for treating a patient, comprising:
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implanting a signal delivery device proximate to a patient'"'"'s spinal cord, the signal delivery device having (n) contacts positioned to deliver neural modulation signals to the patient, where (n) is greater than three; during a trial period; (a) for each of at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs, delivering first neural modulation signals to the patient and evaluating a performance characteristic of the neural modulation signals; and(b) selecting a pair of contacts for further neural modulation, based at least in part on evaluating the performance characteristic of the first neural modulation signals; and applying the first neural modulation signals or second neural modulation signals to the patient'"'"'s spinal cord via the selected pair of contacts for an additional period of time. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for treating a patient, comprising:
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implanting a signal delivery device proximate to a patient'"'"'s spinal cord, the signal delivery device having (n) contacts positioned to deliver neural modulation signals to the patient, where (n) is greater than three; during a trial period; (a) for each of at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs, delivering neural modulation signals to the patient and evaluating a performance characteristic of the neural modulation signals;(b) based at least in part on evaluating the performance characteristic of the neural modulation signals delivered via the at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs, and before delivering neural modulation signals to any other contact pairs, determining that none of the at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs provides neural modulation with the performance characteristic meeting a performance criterion;(c) for each of at least one additional contact pair beyond (n−
1), delivering neural modulation signals to the patient and evaluating the performance characteristic of the neural modulation signals; and(d) selecting a pair of contacts to deliver the neural modulation signals for an extended period of time, based at least in part on evaluating the performance characteristic of the neural modulation signals delivered via the at least one additional contact pair; and applying the neural modulation signals to the patient'"'"'s spinal cord via the selected pair of contacts for an extended period of time. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for treating a patient, comprising:
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a patient implantable signal delivery device having (n) contacts positioned to deliver therapy signals to a patient, where (n) is greater than three; and an external signal generator coupled to the signal delivery device and having a computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, perform the following operations; (a) identify a contact pair; (b) deliver neural modulation signals to the contact pair; (c) change one or both of the contacts of the contact pair; and (d) repeat operations (b)-(c) for each of at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A system for treating a patient, comprising:
a computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, perform the following operations; (a) select a contact pair belonging to a set of (n) contacts carried by a patient-implantable signal delivery device, where n is greater than three; (b) deliver neural modulation signals to the contact pair; (c) change the contact pair; and (d) repeat operations (b)-(c) for each of at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs.- View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. A system for treating a patient, comprising:
a computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, perform the following operations; (a) select a contact pair belonging to a set of (n) contacts carried by a patient-implantable signal delivery device, where n is greater than three; (b) deliver neural modulation signals to the contact pair; (c) change the contact pair; (d) repeat operations (b)-(c) for each of at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs;(e) receive an indication corresponding to none of the at most (n−
1) unique contact pairs providing neural modulation with the performance characteristic meeting a performance criterion; and(f) for each of at least one additional contact pair beyond (n−
1), deliver neural modulation signals to the patient.- View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
Specification