APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TREATMENT OF PAIN WITH BODY IMPEDANCE ANALYZER

• US 20130253365A1
• Filed: 11/18/2011
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: True Relief LLC
• Original Assignee: Newlife Sciences LLC
• Inventors: Weinkle, David, Crosson, John
• Granted Patent: US 10,085,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/547
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/053 Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of a portion of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0531 Measuring skin impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4824 Touch or pain perception evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/501 connected to external computer devices or networks
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5046 Touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5048 Audio interfaces, e.g. voice or music controlled
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2230/655 used as a control parameter for the apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 39/002 Using electric currents electrotherapy A61N1/32
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36021 for treatment of pain
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3603 Control systems

Abstract

A patient treatment unit and method analyzes and treats pain in tissues by applying an electrical pulse train to the affected tissue. The impedance of the affected tissue is measured, and the measured impedance is correlated to a level of pain in the patient. The pulse train is further applied in response to the measured impedance to reduce the patient'"'"'s pain. The patient treatment unit includes a probe stimulus generator that outputs the pulse train. The treatment unit also includes a pair of probes for contacting the patient'"'"'s body and receiving the pulse train. The pulse has improved shaping based on isolation of high voltage from a low voltage control. The unit further includes a body impedance analysis circuit that senses voltage and current via the probes when the probes are contacting the patient and observe the impedance. A monitor is electrically coupled to the body impedance analysis circuit and provides an indication of the measured impedance indicative of the patient'"'"'s level of pain in real-time.

Claims

1. A patient treatment unit for analyzing and treating pain in human or animal tissues, the treatment unit comprising:

a probe stimulus generator circuit that outputs a sequence of electrical pulses, the electrical pulses having a pulse width and a pulse frequency, the probe stimulus generator controlling the pulse frequency and the pulse width of the electrical pulses;

a primary vibrating spherical probe and a secondary spherical probe for contacting a body of a patient and electrically coupled to the probe stimulus generator to receive the sequence of electrical pulses;

a body impedance analysis circuit that senses voltage or current via the primary vibrating spherical probe and the secondary spherical probe in real-time as the sequence of electrical pulses are applied to the tissues when the probes are contacting the body of the patient;

a monitor device electrically coupled to the body impedance analysis circuit that provides an indication of the sensed voltage or current as an impedance measurement in real-time as the sequence of electrical pulses are applied to the tissues; and

a display device that plots the impedance measurement graphically in real-time.

2. The patient treatment unit of claim 1, further comprising a storage device to store data representing the sensed impedance measurement.

3. The patient treatment unit of claim 1 further comprising a treatment counter circuit that detects and tracks an elapsed treatment time indicative of the time the primary probe is receiving the sequence of electrical pulses.

4. The patient treatment unit of claim 1, wherein the pulse frequency of the electrical pulses is in a range of substantially 1-490 Hz±

6% with 500 ohms to 1 mega-ohm of resistance across the probes.

5. The patient treatment unit of claim 1, wherein the pulse frequency of the electrical pulses is in a range of substantially 4-20 kHz with 500 ohms to 1 mega-ohm of resistance across the probes.

6. The patient treatment unit of claim 1, wherein the monitor device electrically coupled to the body impedance analysis circuit includes an audio voice output that provides a voice indication of the sensed voltage or current.

7. The patient treatment unit of claim 1, wherein the display device displays a derivative of the impedance measurement graphically in real-time.

8. The patient treatment unit of claim 1 further comprising a memory device that stores initial conditions for the probe stimulus generator.

9. The patient treatment unit of claim 8, wherein the initial conditions include positions for placement of the primary and secondary probes and wherein the display device displays the positions.

10. The patient treatment unit of claim 8, wherein the initial conditions include patient specific data and wherein the display device displays the patient specific data.

11. The patient treatment unit of claim 1 further comprising a memory device, the memory device storing data representing the real-time impedance measurement in correlation with data relating to the patient.

12. The patient treatment unit of claim 1 further comprising a security module, the security module allowing activation of the patient treatment unit on insertion of a datakey.

13. The patient treatment unit of claim 12, wherein the datakey has a predetermined validity time period for activation of the patient treatment unit.

14. The patient treatment unit of claim 12, wherein the treatment unit stores patient data on the inserted datakey.

15. The patient treatment unit of claim 1, wherein the monitor device measures feedback from the primary and secondary probes to determine penetration depth.

16. The patient treatment unit of claim 1, wherein the display device is a touch screen having touch screen controls to control the probe stimulus generator.

17. A method of displaying real-time impedance data comprising:

outputting a sequence of electrical pulses, the electrical pulses having a pulse width and a pulse frequency via a probe stimulus generator circuit;

receiving the electrical pulses in a primary vibrating spherical probe and a secondary spherical probe;

contacting a body of a patient with the primary and secondary probes;

sensing voltage or current via the primary vibrating spherical probe and the secondary spherical probe in real-time as the sequence of electrical pulses are applied to the tissues when the probes are contacting the body of the patient via a body impedance analysis circuit;

providing an indication of the sensed voltage or current as an impedance measurement in real-time as the sequence of electrical pulses are applied to the tissues; and

displaying the measured impedance graphically in real-time.

18. A patient treatment unit for analyzing and treating pain in human or animal tissues, the treatment unit comprising:

a probe stimulus generator circuit including a high voltage generator, a low voltage control circuit that controls the shape of pulses generated by the high voltage generator, the low voltage control circuit being isolated from the high voltage generator, the probe stimulus generator circuit outputting a sequence of electrical pulses, the electrical pulses having a pulse width and a pulse frequency, the probe stimulus generator controlling the pulse frequency and the pulse width of the electrical pulses; and

a primary vibrating spherical probe and a secondary spherical probe for contacting a body of a patient and electrically coupled to the probe stimulus generator to receive the sequence of electrical pulses.