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Method and system for monitoring a nerve

  • US 9,084,551 B2
  • Filed: 12/08/2008
  • Issued: 07/21/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A nerve monitoring system comprising:

  • an apparatus including;

    a nerve stimulator configured to automatically and periodically apply an electrical stimulation signal to the nerve of a patient'"'"'s body to elicit an evoked potential, wherein the nerve stimulator is configured to be connected to a nerve stimulation cuff electrode;

    a response measurement unit configured to automatically measure, in at least one of a nerve or a muscle of the patient'"'"'s body, a neurogenic response signal of the evoked potential, the response measurement unit including;

    an identification function configured to automatically identify potential nerve impairment based on observable differences between the measured neurogenic response signal and a baseline neurogenic response pattern when the observable differences exceed a threshold, the identification function including an impairment sorter to differentiate multiple, different types of identified potential nerve impairment from each other according to the observable differences, which include at least a relative change in at least a nerve response latency parameter and a nerve response amplitude parameter, andan alarm configured to automatically audibly announce, upon the identified potential nerve impairment, a verbal expression indicative of the identified type of the potential nerve impairment with a different verbal expression for each of the respective different types of nerve impairment; and

    a controller configured to generate control signals, based on executable instructions stored in a memory of the controller, to direct operation of the nerve stimulator and the response measurement unit.

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