Obtaining measurements of muscle reflexes for diagnosis of patient symptoms

• US 8,444,571 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Issued: 05/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uroval, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uroval, Inc.
• Inventors: Folkerts, Debra Janette, Johnson, Gregory Ray, Gack, Timothy Martin, Finstrom McPhee, Karen Louise
• Primary Examiner(s): Mallari, Patricia
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kidanemariam, Mehari
• Application Number:
  US12/324,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20090082702A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,637 Days
• Field of Search: 156/1, 600/553, 600/372
• US Class Current: 600/557
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1107 Measuring contraction of parts of the body, e.g. organ, muscle apparatus for measuring work or force in general G01L
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/202 Assessing bladder functions, e.g. incontinence assessment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/296 for electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/391 of genito-urinary organs
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4064 Evaluating the brain A61B5/031, A61B5/369, A61B5/14553 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4368 Sexual arousal evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4375 for evaluating the male reproductive system
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4884 inducing physiological or psychological stress, e.g. applications for stress testing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/68 Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient

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.

Claims

1. A non-invasive method for measuring a bulbocavernosus reflex, comprising:

providing a probe comprising;

(i) a housing with a bore therethrough, said housing containing a piezoelectric disk, said disk electrically connected to an amplifier and activated by a power source;

(ii) a stimulus plunger having first and second ends and havng a shaft that extends through the bore, said shaft being movable along a longtidunal axis and having an expanded portion that prevents the stimulus plunger from sliding out of an opening in the housing; and

(iii) a compression spring that biases said second end of the stimulus plunger away from contact with the piezoelectric disk;

wherein when the probe is positioned so that a non-invasive contact of the stimulus plunger and a predetermined patient genital area occurs, the contact results in pressure from the stimulus plunger being transmitted to the genital area for inducing a bulbocavernosus reflex;

activating the piezoelectric disk 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 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; and

wherein said method is employed to diagnose dysfunctions selected from the group consisting of spinal cord abnormalities, bladder voiding dysfunction, and sexual organ dysfunction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact causes the stimulus plunger to move relative to the housing.

3. The method of claim 1, further including a step of activating at least one computational model for diagnosing the patient, wherein the model uses at least one of the characteristics in combination with an identification of patient symptom for determining a diagnosis of the patient.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the model uses a plurality of the characteristics (a) through (d).

5. The method of claim 1, further including a step of determining each of the characteristics (a) through (d).

6. The method as set forth in claim 1, further including storing in the probe data indicative of a history of an activation of the probe.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said probe is moved into contact with a patient'"'"'s genitals.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said step of outputting information is used for detecting abnormalities in the bulbocavernosus reflex, said abnormality selected from the group consisting of no bulbocavernosus reflex, a prolonged latency in bulbocavernosus reflex response, a prolonged bulbocavernosus reflex response, and a temporal latency dispersion occurring in repetitive measurements.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said step of acting a sensor for the probe comprises applying a reference electrode that applies a voltage of between 1.0 to 3.5 volts DC to the skin of a patient during mechanical stimulation of a patient'"'"'s genitals.