Cloosed-loop feedback-driven neuromodulation

• US 20050222626A1
• Filed: 05/25/2005
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cyberonics, Inc
• Original Assignee: NeuroVista Corporation
• Inventors: DiLorenzo, Daniel John
• Granted Patent: US 7,403,820 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0529 Electrodes for brain stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0531 Brain cortex electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0534 Electrodes for deep brain stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3605 Implantable neurostimulators for stimulating central or peripheral nerve system
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36064 Epilepsy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36067 Movement disorders, e.g. tremor or Parkinson disease stimulating motor muscle A61N1/36003
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36082 Cognitive or psychiatric applications, e.g. dementia or Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

A neurological control system for modulating activity of any component or structure comprising the entirety or portion of the nervous system, or any structure interfaced thereto, generally referred to herein as a “nervous system component.” The neurological control system generates neural modulation signals delivered to a nervous system component through one or more neuromodulators, comprising intracranial (IC) stimulating electrodes and other actuators, in accordance with treatment parameters. Such treatment parameters may be derived from a neural response to previously delivered neural modulation signals sensed by one or more sensors, each configured to sense a particular characteristic indicative of a neurological or psychiatric condition.

Claims

1. A neural modulation system for use in treating disease which provides stimulus intensity which may be varied, comprising a stimulating and recording unit, said stimulating and recording unit further comprising a reference module in communication with a patient interface module, a supervisory module, and a control circuit, said reference module further comprising a memory register for the storage of control law reference values, said patient interface module facilitating monitoring and adjustment of said reference values by a patient and said supervisory module facilitating monitoring and adjustment of reference values by a health care provider.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law has a deadband.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law is nonlinear.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said control law has a deadband.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law is the product of a transfer function and a disease estimate.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein said transfer function is a step function.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said reference module determined reference disease state

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said control circuit, which further comprises control law circuit block, receives a signal representing disease state error.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said disease state error represents the difference between the actual disease state and the desired disease state.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said desired disease state is characterized by reduced symptoms.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said desired disease state is characterized by no symptoms.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein said desired disease state is characterized by no seizures.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein said desired disease state is characterized by a reduced frequency of seizures.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein said desired disease state is characterized by a reduced duration of seizures.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein said desired disease state is characterized by a reduced magnitude of seizures.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law is piecewise linear.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law is sampled-data control.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of said inputs to control circuit is at least one of (a) held in proportion to each successive sampled value until the next sampled value is input, (b) changes at a rate proportional to the difference of the most recent sampled value from the just preceding sampled value, or (c) changes as a nonlinear function of said difference of the most recent sampled value from the just preceding sampled value.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law is rule-based.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law is model-based, wherein a computer-based dynamic model of the system being controlled is continuously adjusted according to a function of the difference between the model state and the measured state, and whereby the state of the model is then used to determine the control signal fed to the actual controlled system.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein said control circuit, which further comprises control law circuit block, receives a signal representing disease state error, wherein disease state error represents the difference between the actual seizure threshold and desired seizure threshold.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein said control circuit receives a signal representing disease state, wherein disease represents a measure of the likelihood of a seizure.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein said control circuit receives a signal representing disease state, wherein disease represents a measure of the likelihood of a seizure.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein said control circuit receives a signal representing disease state, wherein disease represents a measure of the seizure threshold.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said seizure threshold is maintained in a normal range.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein said control law is a fuzzy control law.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said control law comprises at least one membership function.

28. The system as in claim 27, wherein said membership function includes at least one of a measure of disease state and measure of symptoms.

29. A neural modulation system for use in treating disease which provides stimulus intensity which may be varied, comprising a stimulating and recording unit, said stimulating and recording unit further comprising a reference module in communication with a patient interface module, a supervisory module, and a control circuit, said reference module further comprising a memory register for the storage of control law reference values, said control law employing nonlinear control, and said supervisory module facilitating monitoring and adjustment of reference values by a health care provider.

30. A neural modulation system for use in treating disease which provides stimulus intensity which may be varied, comprising a stimulating and recording unit, said stimulating and recording unit further comprising a reference module in communication with a patient interface module, a supervisory module, and a control circuit, said reference module further comprising a memory register for the storage of control law reference values, said control law employing fuzzy control, and said supervisory module facilitating monitoring and adjustment of reference values by a health care provider.