Noninvasive, regional brain thermal stimuli for the treatment of neurological disorders
AssigneeUniversity of Pittsburgh—Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education
InventorEric A. Nofzinger
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Abstract
Apparatuses and methods for treating neurological and/or neuropsychiatric disorders are by application of thermal energy to the patient's forehead region, for example, by maintaining a target temperature or temperature range to the forehead of a patient for a time period. In particular, described herein are regional brain cooling mechanisms to treat neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and autism.
Claims37
A method for treating a neurological disorder in a patient, the method comprising:
- securing a thermal transfer region of an applicator in contact with the forehead of the patient so that the thermal transfer region does not contact the periorbital region of the patient's face;
- and
- maintaining the temperature of the thermal transfer region within a target temperature range that is between 10° C. and 28° C.;
- and
- thereby treating the neurological disorder,
- wherein the neurological disorder is one of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and autism.
A method for treating a neurological disorder in a patient, the method comprising:
- applying noninvasive, regional brain cooling to a region of a patient's head over a forehead and a temporal region of the patient's skull to locally cool the patient's forehead and the patient's temporal region by applying a temperature of between 10° C. and 28° C.;
- and
- maintaining the applied temperature between 10° C. and 28° C. to reduce brain metabolism in one or more of the patient's frontal cortex, prefrontal cortex and temporal cortex to treat the neurological disorder,
- wherein the neurological disorder is one of:
- posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), autism, depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
A method for treating a neurological disorder in a patient, the method comprising:
- securing a thermal transfer region of an applicator in contact with the forehead of the patient so that the thermal transfer region does not contact the periorbital region of the patient's face;
- and
- maintaining the temperature of the thermal transfer region within a target temperature range to modify brain metabolism;
- and
- thereby treating the neurological disorder,
- wherein the neurological disorder is one of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and autism.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.