Neurological monitoring and alerts

• US 9,643,019 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2011
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cyberonics, Inc
• Original Assignee: Cyberonics, Inc
• Inventors: Higgins, Jason A., Bland, Michael, Leyde, Kent W., Sheffield, W. Douglas, Harris, John F., Himes, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): JANG, CHRISTIAN YONGKYUN
• Application Number:
  US13/026,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20110201944A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,276 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4094 Diagnosing or monitoring seizure diseases, e.g. epilepsy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/00 Electrotherapy; Circuits therefor A61N2/00 takes precedence; irradiation apparatus A61N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0529 Electrodes for brain stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37258 Alerting the patient
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A system for providing alerts of neurological events occurring in a human subject is provided. The system includes: a monitoring module adapted to detect and sample a neurological signal; an event detection module coupled to the monitoring module for detecting one or more types of predetermined reportable events based on the detected neurological signal; and an alert module coupled to the event detection module, wherein upon the detection of a reportable event by the event detection module, said alert module selects a first alert contact from a plurality of contacts contained in a contact list, and generates a first alert communication to the first alert contact.

Claims

1. A system for reporting physiological events occurring in a human subject, comprising:

a monitoring module adapted to receive a physiological signal from the subject, the physiological signal being a motion signal acquired from an accelerometer;

an event detection module configured to receive the physiological signal from the monitoring module, the event detection module further configured to generate outputs based on the physiological signal that distinguish between a first type of reportable event corresponding to a low urgency condition of the subject not requiring urgent intervention and a second type of reportable event corresponding to a high urgency neurological condition of the subject requiring urgent intervention;

a therapy delivery module configured to receive a therapy initiation signal from the event detection module, said therapy delivery module being configured to deliver a therapy to the subject; and

an alert module configured to receive at least one of the outputs from the event detection module, wherein upon receipt of an output corresponding to the second type of reportable event, said alert module generates an alert communication to each alert contact from a plurality of contacts contained in a contact list in sequence until receipt of at least one of the generated alert communications is acknowledged.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert module generates an alert communication upon receipt of an output corresponding to the first type of reportable event.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one of the generated alert communications provides a recipient information regarding the reportable event.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the alert communication corresponding to the first type of reportable event does not prompt a recipient to acknowledge receipt of the alert communication.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the alert communication corresponding to the first type of reportable event is transmitted via a first communication channel, and the alert communication corresponding to the second type of reportable event is transmitted via a second communication channel different than the first communication channel.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second communication channel differs from the first communication channel because the second communication channel is at least one of more reliable than the first communication channel and more noticeable to the alert contact than the first communication channel.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one alert contact comprises an electronic message address or a telephone number.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one of the generated alert communications prompts a recipient to acknowledge receipt of the alert communication.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said alert communication is selected from a plurality of predetermined alert types, each alert type being associated with a different type of reportable event.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said alert module is configured to wirelessly transmit the alert communication to each alert contact from the plurality of contacts.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least first and second types of reportable events comprise at least one of:

detection of a suspected seizure, detection of a suspected seizure that continues beyond a predetermined period of time, and detection of a suspected seizure that has occurred within a certain period of time since a preceding suspected seizure.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the monitoring module is further configured to receive one or more additional physiological signals; and

the event detection module is further configured to generate additional outputs corresponding to additional reportable events based on the physiological signal and the one or more additional physiological signals.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the monitoring module is configured to receive a cardiac signal.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more additional physiological signals correspond to at least one of subject heart rate, position, and movement.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring module further comprises:

a housing;

one or more contacts for collecting a cardiac signal; and

electronic components contained in the housing and configured for receiving the cardiac signal.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a third type of reportable event corresponding to an error in the physiological signal, wherein upon the detection of the third type of reportable event the alert module generates an error alert communication.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert module is configured to receive a request for a manual status check, wherein upon the receipt of the request for the manual status check a test signal is provided to the system.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the physiological signal corresponds to at least one of subject heart rate, position, and movement.

19. A method for reporting physiological events occurring in a human subject, comprising:

detecting a physiological signal from the subject, the physiological signal being a motion signal acquired from an accelerometer;

detecting one or more types of predetermined reportable events based on the detected physiological signal;

classifying each of the detected reportable events as a first type of reportable event corresponding to a low urgency condition of the subject or as a second type of reportable event corresponding to a high urgency neurological condition of the subject;

delivering a therapy to the subject upon detection of the one or more types of predetermined reportable events;

generating a low-urgency alert communication in response to the first type of reportable event or a high-urgency alert communication in response to the second type of reportable event, the high-urgency alert communication including a request for acknowledgement of the alert communication;

transmitting the high-urgency alert communication to a first alert contact selected from a plurality of contacts contained in a contact list; and

transmitting the high-urgency alert communication to a second alert contact selected sequentially from the plurality of contacts when the first alert contact does not respond to the request for acknowledgement.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting the low-urgency alert communication without the request for acknowledgement.

21. The method of claim 20, the transmitting of the low-urgency alert communication being via a first communication channel and the transmitting of the high-urgency alert communication being via a second communication channel different than the first communication channel.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first communication channel and the second communication channel is a wireless communication channel.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the second communication channel differs from the first communication channel because the second communication channel is at least one of more reliable than the first communication channel and more noticeable to the alert contact than the first communication channel.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein said transmitting the high-urgency alert communication comprises calling a telephone number or transmitting an electronic message to an electronic message address.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein said high-urgency alert communication informs the selected alert contact of the detected reportable event.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein said one or more types of predetermined reportable events comprise at least one of:

detection of a suspected seizure, detection of a suspected seizure that continues beyond a predetermined period of time, and detection of a suspected seizure that has occurred within a certain period of time since a preceding suspected seizure.

27. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

detecting one or more additional physiological signals;

wherein said detecting one or more types of predetermined reportable events based on the detected physiological signal comprises detecting one or more types of predetermined reportable events based on the detected physiological signal and the detected one or more additional physiological signals.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more additional physiological signals comprises a cardiac signal.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more additional physiological signals correspond to at least one of subject heart rate, position, and movement.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein the physiological signal corresponds to at least one of subject heart rate, position, and movement.

31. A system for providing alerts of physiological events occurring in a human subject, comprising:

a monitoring module adapted to detect a physiological signal, the physiological signal being a motion signal acquired from an accelerometer;

an event detection module for detecting one or more types of predetermined reportable events based on the detected physiological signal, the predetermined reportable events including a low-urgency type of reportable event corresponding to a low urgency condition of the subject and a high-urgency type of reportable event corresponding to a high urgency neurological condition of the subject;

a therapy delivery module configured to receive a therapy initiation signal from the event detection module, said therapy delivery module being configured to deliver a therapy to the subject; and

an alert module coupled to the event detection module, said alert module containing at least a low-urgency alert type associated with the low-urgency type of reportable event and a high-urgency alert type associated with the high-urgency type of reportable event;

wherein upon the detection of the high-urgency type of reportable event by the event detection module, said alert module selects the high-urgency alert type and generates an alert communication to each alert recipient from a plurality of alert recipients contained in a contact list in sequence until receipt of one of the alert communications is acknowledged, the plurality of alert recipients including a first recipient positioned in an initial position on the contact list, the first recipient being a first caregiver to the subject or a first electronic device.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the plurality of alert recipients further including a second recipient positioned in a secondary position on the contact list, the second recipient being at least one of a second caregiver to the subject, the first electronic device, or a second electronic device.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein upon the detection of the low-urgency type of reportable event by the event detection module, said alert module selects the low-urgency alert type and generates an alert communication that does not require acknowledgement of receipt.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the physiological signal corresponds to at least one of subject heart rate, position, and movement.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein:

the monitoring module is further configured to receive a cardiac signal; and

the event detection module is further configured to generate additional outputs corresponding to additional reportable events based on the motion signal and the cardiac signal.

36. A method for providing alerts of physiological events occurring in a human subject, comprising:

monitoring a physiological signal using a subject-contacting device, the physiological signal being a motion signal acquired from an accelerometer;

analyzing the physiological signal to detect one or more types of predetermined reportable events corresponding to a neurological condition of the subject;

delivering a therapy to the subject upon detection of the one or more types of predetermined reportable events; and

upon the detection of a reportable event, transmitting an alert communication to each alert contact from a plurality of contacts contained in a contact list sequentially until receipt of one of the alert communications is acknowledged, the plurality of contacts contained in the contact list including a first contact positioned in an initial position on the contact list, the first contact being a first caregiver to the subject or a first electronic device.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the plurality of contacts contained in the contact list further including a second contact positioned in a secondary position on the contact list, the second contact being at least one of a second caregiver to the subject, the first electronic device, or a second electronic device.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein said transmitting the alert communication to each alert contact from the plurality of contacts comprises transmitting a high-urgency alert communication upon detection of a high urgency reportable event or transmitting a low-urgency alert communication upon detection of a low urgency reportable event.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the physiological signal corresponds to at least one of subject heart rate, position, and movement.

40. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

monitoring a cardiac signal acquired from a sensor;

wherein the analyzing the physiological signal to detect one or more types of predetermined reportable events comprises analyzing the motion signal and cardiac signal to detect one or more types of predetermined reportable events.