Clinical-based automated delivery of treatment substances to the inner ear
AssigneeCochlear Limited
InventorsJohn Michael Heasman, Jan Raymond Janssen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Presented herein are techniques for clinical-based automated control of the delivery of treatment substances to at least one inner ear of a recipient of an implantable medical device. More specifically, in-vivo biomarkers are analyzed to determine a biological state/status of one or more physiological elements of the inner ear. Subsequent delivery of one or more treatment substances to the inner ear of the recipient are controlled based on the determined biological state of the one or more physiological elements of the inner ear.
Claims30
An implantable medical device system, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to be implanted in an inner ear of a recipient;
- an implantable reservoir configured to hold a treatment substance;
- and
- at least one processor configured to:
- obtain, via the at least one sensor, an electrophysiological measurement from the inner ear of the recipient;
- control, using the electrophysiological measurement for feedback, delivery of the treatment substance from the implantable reservoir;
- detect at least one of hair cell changes or synaptic changes from the electrophysiological measurement;
- and
- auto-regulate an amount of the treatment substance delivered to the inner ear responsive to the at least one of hair cell changes or synaptic changes;
- a stimulating assembly configured to be implanted in the inner ear, wherein the stimulating assembly includes the at least one sensor as one or more electrodes configured to detect the electrophysiological measurement as electrical potentials;
- and
- an amplifier connected to the one or more electrodes, wherein the amplifier is configured to amplify the electrical potentials detected at the one or more electrodes for use by the at least one processor,
- wherein the implantable medical device system is configured to sample the electrical potentials detected at the one or more electrodes during a fixed duration measurement window following at least one of electrical stimulation or acoustic stimulation.
A method, comprising:
- delivering an electrical stimulus to an inner ear of a recipient of an implantable medical device;
- capturing, via at least one implantable sensor, one or more electrophysiological measurements as an electrically evoked compound action potential measurement from the inner ear during a fixed duration sample window that immediately follows the electrical stimulus;
- and
- using the one or more electrophysiological measurements as feedback, generating a control output to auto-regulate delivery of one or more treatment substances to the inner ear of the recipient.
An implantable medical device system, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to be implanted in an inner ear of a recipient;
- an implantable reservoir configured to hold a treatment substance;
- and
- at least one processor configured to:
- obtain, via the at least one sensor, an electrophysiological measurement from the inner ear of the recipient;
- estimate at least one of spiral ganglion density or spiral ganglion survival from the electrophysiological measurement;
- and
- control, using the electrophysiological measurement for feedback, delivery of the treatment substance from the implantable reservoir.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.