Detection of reversible nerve injury
AssigneeNeurovision Medical Products, Inc.
InventorJames Lee Rea
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for monitoring relative nerve health and the presence of neuropraxia is described. The system utilizes the integration of a waveform function of an elicited or monitored nerve response to provide an indication of the strength of a detected signal from a nerve and thus the relative health and integrity of the nerve. In some embodiments motor nerve stimulation innervates muscle and an EMG waveform is obtained in response thereto. The integration under the waveform is expressed and an indexed value indicating a percentage of a certain threshold value. Methods set forth provide a more reliable status of a nerve in real-time and allow action to be taken to reduce neuropraxia or prevent permanent nerve damage.
Claims17
A monitoring system configured for detecting in a continuously or intermittently stimulated target nerve, in real time, reductions in nerve function resulting from nerve damage, and indicating whether said nerve damage is fully reversible nerve damage, said system configured to monitor an electrical response of the stimulated nerve, said response being a wave form function, and determine an integration value representing an integration of the area under the wave form function generated by said stimulation, wherein
- a. the monitoring system having stored therein a predetermined neuropraxia threshold value representative of nerve responses at or above which a loss of nerve function is fully reversible,
- b. said monitoring system configured to compare said integration value to said predetermined neuropraxia threshold value while the damaged nerve can still be restored to its undamaged state and generate a signal indicating the proximity of the integration value to the predetermined neuropraxia threshold value, signaling a need to discontinue treatment
- the monitoring system configured for application to an individual at the time of potential nerve damage.
A monitoring system configured for application to a patient at the time of a potential nerve injuring procedure for detecting, in real time, the existence of fully reversible nerve damage in a targeted nerve, the monitoring system comprising:
- a stimulating component configured for generating an electrical stimulation pulse for stimulating at least the targeted nerve;
- a sensing component configured for detecting a response from one of the stimulated targeted nerve, an evoked nerve and a muscle innervated by the stimulated target nerve;
- a component configured to generate a waveform representative of the detected response;
- a processor programmed to integrate the waveform with respect to time and to provide an integration value;
- a comparator configured for comparing the integration value with a predetermined neuropraxia threshold value and for providing an index value;
- and
- a display component configured for displaying the index value and signaling a need to discontinue treatment
- wherein the predetermined neuropraxia threshold value represents a nerve response above which nerve damage is fully reversible and below which permanent loss of at least some nerve function occurs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.