Method for determining activity in the central nervous system

• US 6,385,479 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2000
• Issued: 05/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Scientific Technologies Incorporated (Omron Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Science & Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Brooks, William M., Sibbitt, Wilmer L., Petropoulos, Helen
• Primary Examiner(s): Lateef, Marvin M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): QADERI, RUNA S
• Application Number:
  US09/541,022
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 600/410, 324/307, 324/309, 436/173
• US Class Current: 600/410
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/411 Detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an allergenic agent or substance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for determining whether an individual has a central nervous system disease or injury comprising: obtaining a T₂ measurement for at least one brain tissue sample from an individual; determining if the T₂ measurement indicates the presence of a central nervous system disease or injury in the individual. The present invention also provides a method for determining whether an individual has a central nervous system disease or injury comprising: obtaining a first T₂ measurement using an MRI technique for a brain tissue sample from an individual at a first time; obtaining a second T₂ measurement using an MRI technique for the brain tissue sample from the individual at a second time; and comparing the second T₂ measurement to the first T₂ measurement. In addition, the present invention provides a method for determining the effectiveness of a treatment for a central nervous system disease or injury comprising: obtaining a first T₂ measurement using an MRI technique for a brain tissue sample from an individual at a first time; administering a first treatment to an individual; obtaining a second T₂ measurement using the MRI technique for the brain tissue sample from the individual after administering the first treatment; and comparing the second T₂ measurement to the first T₂ measurement.

Claims

1. A method for determining whether an individual has a central nervous system disease or injury comprising:

obtaining a T₂ measurement for at least one brain tissue sample from an individual using an MRI technique;

determining if said T₂ measurement indicates the presence of a central nervous system disease or injury in the individual.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said brain tissue sample comprises a cortex gray matter sample.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said T₂ measurement is obtained using an MRI field strength of 1.5 Tesla and the individual is determined to have a central nervous system disease or injury if said T₂ measurement exceeds about 88 ms.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said T₂ measurement is obtained using an MRI field strength of 1.5 Tesla and the individual is determined to have a central nervous system disease or injury if said T₂ measurement exceeds about 90 ms.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said brain sample is obtained using a segmentation technique.

6. A method for determining whether an individual has a central nervous system disease or injury comprising:

obtaining a first T₂ measurement using an MRI technique for a brain tissue sample from the individual at a first time;

obtaining a second T₂ measurement using an MRI technique for said brain tissue sample from the individual at a second time; and

comparing said second T₂ measurement to said first T₂ measurement to determine whether the individual has a central nervous system disease or injury.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said first brain tissue sample comprises a cortex gray matter sample and said second brain tissue sample comprises a cortex sample.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the individual is determined to have a central nervous system disease or injury if said second T₂ measurement exceeds said first T₂ measurement.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the individual is determined to be recovering from a nervous system disease or injury if said second T₂ measurement is less than said first T₂ measurement.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein said brain tissue sample is obtained using a segmentation technique.

11. A method for determining the effectiveness of a treatment for a central nervous system disease or injury comprising:

obtaining a first T₂ measurement using an MRI technique for a brain tissue sample from an individual at a first time;

administering a first treatment to an individual;

obtaining a second T₂ measurement using said MRI technique for said brain tissue sample from the individual after administering said first treatment; and

comparing said second T₂ measurement to said first T₂ measurement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said first brain tissue sample comprises a cortex gray matter sample and said second brain tissue sample comprises a cortex gray matter sample.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the said treatment with said administered first treatment is determined to be effective if said second T₂ measurement is less than said first T₂ measurement.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

administering a second treatment to the individual after obtaining said second T₂ measurement; and

obtaining a third T₂ measurement using an MRI technique for said brain tissue sample from the individual after administering said second treatment; and

comparing said third T₂ measurement to at least one T₂ measurement selected from the group consisting of said first T₂ measurement and said second T₂ measurement.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the said treatment with said administered first treatment is determined to be effective if said third T₂ measurement is less than said first T₂ measurement.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the said treatment with said administered second treatment is determined to be effective if said third T₂ measurement is less than said second T₂ measurement.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said administered first treatment and said administered second treatment comprise the same treatment.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein said brain tissue sample is obtained using a segmentation technique.