Brain electrical activity mapping
First Claim
1. Apparatus for generating a topographic display of information on the electrical activity of the brain, said apparatus comprisinga plurality of electrical-activity transducers adapted for placement at spaced apart locations on the skull of a patient,stimulus means for repeatedly generating a sensory stimulus for the brain to produce at said transducers repeated segments of data each associated with one EP response, said stimulus means includingpseudorandom timing means for triggering successive said stimuli at times spaced apart by pseudorandom time intervals, and for determining each said pseudorandom time interval as a combination of a subinterval of fixed length and a subinterval of pseudorandomly determined length, each said fixed length subinterval comprising a pre-stimulus subinterval of predetermined length and a post-stimulus subinterval of predetermined length,averaging means connected to be responsive to said transducers for averaging said repeated segments to generate average segments for each transducer,processing means connected to be responsive to said averaging means for processing said average segments to generate one or more matrices, each element said one or more matrices representing information on the electrical activity of the brain at one location on the skull,display means connected to be responsive to said processing means for displaying said one or more matrices as topographic maps of the skull, each said matrix element forming a discrete point of said maps.
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Abstract
Apparatus for generating a topographic display of information on brain electrical activity based on responses of electrical-activity transducers placed on the skull. In different aspects, the brain is stimulated at pseudorandom intervals to produce EP responses; matrices corresponding to the electrical responses are processed to generate a statistical comparison matrix and the corresponding display map is grid sector analyzed; a series of tests is administered some of which put the brain in a simple resting state, others putting the brain in nonresting states of varying activity level; statistical comparison matrixes are generated representing the statistical difference between normal and abnormal groups at different skull locations with respect to different brain activities; significance probability maps are generated each representing the statistical difference between a patient and the normal population with respect to different brain activities; and an epileptic spike is caused, a sufficient number of data matrices is generated to capture onset of the spike, and the frame rate of display of the corresponding topographic maps is selectably changed for observing the onset.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. Apparatus for generating a topographic display of information on the electrical activity of the brain, said apparatus comprising
a plurality of electrical-activity transducers adapted for placement at spaced apart locations on the skull of a patient, stimulus means for repeatedly generating a sensory stimulus for the brain to produce at said transducers repeated segments of data each associated with one EP response, said stimulus means including pseudorandom timing means for triggering successive said stimuli at times spaced apart by pseudorandom time intervals, and for determining each said pseudorandom time interval as a combination of a subinterval of fixed length and a subinterval of pseudorandomly determined length, each said fixed length subinterval comprising a pre-stimulus subinterval of predetermined length and a post-stimulus subinterval of predetermined length, averaging means connected to be responsive to said transducers for averaging said repeated segments to generate average segments for each transducer, processing means connected to be responsive to said averaging means for processing said average segments to generate one or more matrices, each element said one or more matrices representing information on the electrical activity of the brain at one location on the skull, display means connected to be responsive to said processing means for displaying said one or more matrices as topographic maps of the skull, each said matrix element forming a discrete point of said maps.
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14. Apparatus for generating a topographic display of information on the electrical activity of the brain, said apparatus comprising
a plurality of electrical-activity transducers adapted for placement at spaced apart locations on the skull of a patient, processing means connected to be responsive to said transducers for processing electrical .[.response.]. .Iadd.responses .Iaddend.measured at said transducers to produce one or more matrices, each matrix containing a plurality of elements, said elements representing information on the electrical activity of the brain at particular skull locations, statistical processing means connected to be responsive to said processing means for processing at least two said matrices to generate a statistical comparison matrix, said statistical comparison matrix having elements each of which is representative of a statistical difference between the corresponding elements in said two matrices, display means connected to be responsive to said statistical processing means for displaying said statistical comparison matrix as a topographic map of the skull, said matrix elements forming discrete points of said map, and grid sector analysis means connected to be responsive to said display means including means for assigning points of said map to sectors of a grid and means for determining the mean of said statistical comparison elements in each said sector.
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18. (4) patient becomes drowsy..]. 21. .[.The method of claim 18.]. .Iadd.A method of extracting clinically useful information on the electrical activity of a patient'"'"'s brain, comprising the steps of:
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applying electrical activity transducers at spaced apart locations on the skull of the patient, administering a series of tests to the patient while processing responses measured by said transducers, one or more of said tests being selected to put the brain in a simple resting steady state and a plurality of other tests being selected to put the brain in non-resting steady states corresponding respectively to different levels of activity, and processing resulting responses measured during each said state to generate one or more matrices of display elements, each display element representing information on the electrical activity of the brain at one location on the skull, and displaying said one or more display matrices in the form of topographic maps, with each display element forming a discrete point on the maps, .Iaddend.wherein said plurality of tests for putting the brain in nonresting steady states of varying activity levels are selected from the following; (1) patient listens carefully to a story and answers simple questions about its content when completed, (2) patient listens to music, (3) patient remembers a set of abstract figures presented by the examiner, (4) patient selects the previously presented figures from a larger set of figures by verbally indicating yes or no, (5) patient associates abstract figures with particular artificial names spoken by the examiner, (6) patient names each of the abstract figures when tested by the examiner, (7) patient reads silently three previously unread paragraphs in preparation to answer questions subsequently, (8) patient identifies whether sentences presented by the examiner were previously included in the three paragraphs, and - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of using topographic maps of brain electrical activity to determine brain regions with different electrical activity for normal and abnormal groups, comprising the steps of
applying electrical-activity transducers at spaced apart locations on the skulls of a group of normal patients and a group of abnormal patients, administering to the patients a series of tests that cause selected brain electrical activity while simultaneously storing portions of responses measured by the transducers, processing the stored responses to generate one or more matrices for each selected brain activity and each patient, the one or more matrices having elements representing brain electrical activity at different skull locations, processing the one or more matrices to generate a statistical comparison matrix for each selected brain activity, each statistical comparison matrix having elements representing the statistical difference between the normal and abnormal groups at different skull locations, displaying each statistical comparison matrix as a topographic map of the skull, with each element defining a discrete point of the map, and identifying map regions in which normal and abnormal population groups have statistically significant differences in brain electrical activity.
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26. to generate repeated EP responses. 30. .[.The method of claim 26.]. .Iadd.A method of using topographic maps of brain electrical activity to aid diagnosis of a selected brain abnormality in a patient, comprising the steps of:
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applying electric activity transducers at spaced apart locations on the skull of the patient, administering to the patient one or more tests the cause brain electrical activity while simultaneously storing portions of the responses measured by the transducers, processing the stored responses to generate one or more matrices for each selected brain activity, the one or more matrices having elements representing brain electrical activity at different skull locations, processing the one or more matrices to generate a significance probability map for each selected brain activity, each statistical probability map having elements representing the statistical difference between the patient and the normal population, displaying said one or more matrices as topographic maps of the skull, said one or more matrices having discrete points of the said maps and assessing selected regions of said maps to identify difference in those regions between the patient and the normal population, .Iaddend.wherein said abnormality is an emotional dysfunction, said regions include the frontal lobes, and said assessing steps includes assessing the lack of synchrony - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. said predetermined regions..]. 40. .[.The method of claim 39.]. .Iadd.A method of using topographic maps of brain electrical activity to aid diagnosis of a selected brain abnormality in a patient, comprising the steps of:
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applying electric activity transducers at spaced apart locations on the skull of the patient, administering to the patient one or more tests that cause brain electrical activity while simultaneously storing portions of the responses measured by the transducers, processing the stored responses to generate one or more matrices for each selected brain activity, the one or more matrices having elements representing brain electrical activity at different skull locations, processing the one or more matrices to generate a significant probability map for each selected brain activity, each statistical probability map having elements representing the statistical difference between the patient and the normal population, displaying said one or more matrices as topographic maps of the skull, said one or more matrices having discrete points of the said maps, and assessing selected regions of said maps to identify differences in those regions between the patient and the normal population, selecting one or more features each corresponding to one or more predetermined regions of said maps and to one or more predetermined said tests, said features being indicative of said abnormality, and wherein said selected regions include said predetermined regions, .Iaddend.wherein said abnormality is dyslexia, and one said feature corresponds to a region in the right occipital portion of the skull and to a tight-tyke auditory evoked potential test, and another said feature corresponds to a region in the left rear quadrant of the top
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34. of the skull, and to an auditory (click) evoked potential test. 41. A method for assessing the brain regions in which an epileptic spike originates, comprising the steps of:
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applying a plurality of electrical-activity transducers at spaced apart locations on the skull, causing an epileptic spike to occur while storing responses of said transducers, processing the responses of said transducers to generate a time sequence of matrices, each said matrix having elements representing the instantaneous amplitudes of said responses at various locations on the skull and there being a sufficient number of said matrices for a selected time period of actual brain activity for capturing onset of the epileptic spike, displaying said matrices as a time sequence of topographic maps of the skull at a variable frame rate, said matrices having elements defining discrete points of said maps, selectably slowing the frame rate at which said topographic maps are displayed so as to permit observation of onset of said spike, and assessing from said display the brain region or regions in which an
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35. epileptic spike originates. 42. A method for generating a topographic display of information on the electrical activity of the brain, said method comprising the steps of
placing a plurality of electrical-activity transducers at spaced apart locations on the skull of a patient, repeatedly generating a sensory stimulus for the brain to produce at said transducers repeated segments of data each associated with one EP response, said stimulus step including triggering successive said stimuli at time spaced apart by pseudorandom time intervals, and determining each said pseudorandom time interval as a combination of a subinterval of fixed length and a subinterval of pseudorandomly determined length, each said fixed length subinterval comprising a pre-stimulus subinterval of predetermined length and a post-stimulus subinterval of predetermined length, averaging said repeated segments to generate average segments for each transducer, processing said average segments to generate one or more matrices, said one or more matrices having elements, each of which represents information on the electrical activity of the brain at one location on the skull, and displaying said matrices as topographic maps of the skull, said matrices
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36. having elements forming discrete points of said maps. 43. A method for generating a topographic display of information on the electrical activity of the brain, said method comprising the steps of
placing a plurality of electrical-activity transducers for placement at spaced apart locations on the skull of a patient, processing electrical responses measured at said transducers to produce one or more matrices, each of said matrices containing a plurality of elements, said elements representing information on the electrical activity of the brain at particular skull locations, statistically processing at least two said matrices to generate a statistical comparison matrix, said matrix having elements, each of which is representative of a statistical difference between the corresponding elements in said two matrices, displaying said statistical comparison matrix as a topographic map of the skull, said matrix elements forming discrete points of said map, assigning points of said map to sectors of a grid, and determining the mean of said statistical comparison elements in each said
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38. maps having a dicrete scaled color. .Iaddend. .Iadd.47. The method of claim 41 further comprising the step of processing each matrix element to produce scaled coloring of said topographic maps of the skull, each said point of said maps having a discrete scaled color. .Iaddend. .Iadd.48. The method of claim 42 further comprising the step of processing each matrix element to produce scaled coloring of said topographic maps of the skull, each said point of said maps having a discrete scaled color. .Iadd.49. The method of claim 43 further comprising the step of processing each statistical comparison matrix element to produce scaled coloring of said topographic maps of the skull, each said point of said maps having a discrete scaled color. .Iaddend.
Specification