Apparatus and method for human algometry
First Claim
1. A system for objectively measuring pain comprising:
- a stimulator configured to apply electrical stimulation of variable intensity to an area of a patient'"'"'s body;
a monitoring device configured to measure a level of cortical activity at a plurality of different regions of the patient'"'"'s brain including a primary somatosensory cortex and a dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; and
a microprocessor connected to the stimulator and the monitoring device that is configured tocorrelate a first level of cortical activity at the primary somatosensory cortex of the plurality of different regions of the patient'"'"'s brain with a second level of cortical activity at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the plurality of different regions of the patient'"'"'s brain to determine the relationship between an emotional component of pain and a nociceptive component of pain and remove the emotional component to derive an activity measurement value, andcorrelate the variable intensity of the electrical stimulation with the activity measurement value to determine, based on the correlation, an objective pain representation,wherein the system further includes;
a pharmacologic-dispensing device that administers pain intervention drugs to the patient in accordance with the determined objective pain representation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for performing human algometry are disclosed. They include a stimulator configured to apply electrical stimulation of variable intensity to an area of a patient'"'"'s body, a monitoring device configured to measure a level of cortical activity in one or more regions of the patient'"'"'s brain, and a microprocessor connected to the stimulator and the monitoring device that is configured to correlate the intensity of the electrical stimulation with the level of activity in the one or more regions of the patient'"'"'s brain and to determine at least one of a measurement of pain intensity, a measurement of a sensory detection threshold (SDT), a measurement of a drug'"'"'s analgesic impact, an indication of an onset of tolerance to a drug, an indication of an onset of analgesic-induced hyperalgesia, an indication of conditions of allodynia, a measurement of dose-response characteristics of pain management drugs, and a characterization of a pain condition.
76 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A system for objectively measuring pain comprising:
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a stimulator configured to apply electrical stimulation of variable intensity to an area of a patient'"'"'s body; a monitoring device configured to measure a level of cortical activity at a plurality of different regions of the patient'"'"'s brain including a primary somatosensory cortex and a dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; and a microprocessor connected to the stimulator and the monitoring device that is configured to correlate a first level of cortical activity at the primary somatosensory cortex of the plurality of different regions of the patient'"'"'s brain with a second level of cortical activity at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the plurality of different regions of the patient'"'"'s brain to determine the relationship between an emotional component of pain and a nociceptive component of pain and remove the emotional component to derive an activity measurement value, and correlate the variable intensity of the electrical stimulation with the activity measurement value to determine, based on the correlation, an objective pain representation, wherein the system further includes; a pharmacologic-dispensing device that administers pain intervention drugs to the patient in accordance with the determined objective pain representation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification