Means and method for the treatment of migraine headaches
First Claim
1. A magnetic depolarizer system for the treatment of migraine headache, the system including:
- a readily portable magnetic depolarizer adapted for placement by a human patient at a specific location on his or her head, the specific location being a region where the application of a time varying magnetic field will decrease the intensity and/or duration of a migraine headache, the magnetic depolarizer having at least one electromagnetic coil that is capable of providing the time varying magnetic field with a peak intensity at some portion of the patient'"'"'s cerebral cortex of at least 0.1 Tesla;
electrical circuitry connected to the magnetic depolarizer for providing an electrical current through the at least one electromagnetic coil, the electrical circuitry also including a patient operated switch for turning on the magnetic depolarizer system; and
, a positioner adapted for placement of the magnetic depolarizer system by the human patient onto the specific location of his or her head.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a means and method for the treatment of migraine headaches. Patients who have migraine headaches typically have a band of excited brain neurons that are a precursor of the headache. By placing an intense alternating magnetic field onto a certain region of the brain, an electrical current can be generated in the cerebral cortex that can depolarize these excited brain neurons. This procedure can stop a migraine headache in some patients or at least decrease its severity. The device to perform this function can be called a “magnetic depolarizer”. The magnetic depolarizer can be placed in some headgear such as a bicycle helmet in order to place the magnetic field at the correct location relative to the patient'"'"'s cerebral cortex. This technique can be particularly valuable for patients who have a perceptible aura that occurs prior to the onset of a migraine headache. A visual aura caused by the progression of an excited band of neurons in a patient'"'"'s occipital lobe, which aura occurs 20 to 30 minutes prior to the onset of head pain, would be particularly well treated by means of the magnetic depolarizer.
364 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A magnetic depolarizer system for the treatment of migraine headache, the system including:
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a readily portable magnetic depolarizer adapted for placement by a human patient at a specific location on his or her head, the specific location being a region where the application of a time varying magnetic field will decrease the intensity and/or duration of a migraine headache, the magnetic depolarizer having at least one electromagnetic coil that is capable of providing the time varying magnetic field with a peak intensity at some portion of the patient'"'"'s cerebral cortex of at least 0.1 Tesla;
electrical circuitry connected to the magnetic depolarizer for providing an electrical current through the at least one electromagnetic coil, the electrical circuitry also including a patient operated switch for turning on the magnetic depolarizer system; and
,a positioner adapted for placement of the magnetic depolarizer system by the human patient onto the specific location of his or her head. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A magnetic depolarizer system for the treatment of a migraine headache of a human patient, the system including:
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a readily portable magnetic depolarizer adapted for placement by the human patient at a specific location on his or her head, the specific location being a region where the application of a time varying magnetic field will decrease the intensity and/or duration of a migraine headache, the magnetic depolarizer being capable of providing the time varying magnetic field with a peak intensity at some portion of the patient'"'"'s cerebral cortex of at least 0.1 Tesla; and
a patient-operated switch for activating the magnetic depolarizer, the switch being attached to the magnetic depolarizer at a position where it is readily operable by the human patient.
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15. A method for the treatment of migraine headaches, the method comprising the following steps:
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(a) sensing of an aura of a migraine headache by a migraine patient; and
(b) placing a magnetic depolarizer onto the head of the patient at a location where the magnetic depolarizer can create depolarization of the neurons that are the cause of the aura. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for treating a migraine headache in a human patient with a readily portable magnetic depolarizer, the method including the steps of:
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detecting an occurrence of an onset of a migraine headache by the human patient;
having the human patient place the magnetic depolarizer onto his or her head;
activating the magnetic depolarizer by having the human patient turn on the magnetic depolarizer using a switch that is attached to the magnetic depolarizer; and
generating a time-varying magnetic field having a peak intensity at some portion of the patient'"'"'s cerebral cortex of at least 0.1 Tesla. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification