Nerve cuff electrode for neuromodulation in large human nerve trunks
AssigneeNeuros Medical, Inc.
InventorsZi-Ping FANG, Nemath Syed SHAH
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A durable nerve cuff electrode for achieving block of an action potential in a large diameter nerve.
Claims24
A nerve cuff electrode comprising
- a plurality of conductive nerve contact segments, the segments having an inner surface contacting a nerve trunk and an outer surface not contacting the nerve trunk;
- at least a single wire of a conductive biocompatible material operatively connecting the plurality of conductive nerve contact segments thus forming a segmented strip, the wire configured as helical portions separated by non-helical portions where the non-helical portions are secured to the surface of the conductive nerve contact segments not contacting the nerve trunk;
- and
- a conductive lead capable of operatively connecting a waveform generator to at least one of the plurality of nerve contact segments.
A nerve cuff electrode comprising:
- a plurality of platinum nerve contact segments, each nerve contact segment comprising an inner surface contacting a nerve trunk and an outer surface not contacting the nerve trunk;
- at least two wires of a conductive biocompatible material operatively connecting the plurality of platinum nerve contact segments thus forming a segmented strip, the wires configured as helical portions separated by non-helical portions where the non-helical portions connect to the surface of the platinum nerve contact segments not contacting the nerve trunk by a plurality of resistive welds, the wires embedded in a silicone sheet such that only the inner surface of the platinum nerve contact segments contacts the nerve trunk;
- and
- a conductive lead capable of operatively connecting a waveform generator to one of the plurality of platinum nerve contact segments.
A method of increasing durability of a nerve cuff electrode, the method comprising operatively connecting a plurality of segmented conductive contacts of the electrode with at least a single wire thus forming a segmented strip, the wire configured as helical portions separated by non-helical portions where the non-helical gap portions are secured to the surface of the conductive contacts, the helical portions permitting repeated electrode deformations without breaking and segmented conductive contacts resulting in decreased stress on contacts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.