Systems and methods for respiratory-gated auricular vagal afferent nerve stimulation
AssigneeThe General Hospital Corporation
InventorVitaly Napadow
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Neurostimulation is provided to afferent nerve fibers of an auricular vagal nerve of a patient. The neurostimulation is harmonized with the pulmonary activity of the patient. In one implementation, a neurostimulation is gated to a portion of the respiratory cycle. For example, the auricular vagal nerve may be stimulated at the end of exhalation. In another implementation, a stimulation regiment to multiple electrodes are harmonized with pre-selected triggers within the respiratory cycle to achieve selective stimulation and/or bilateral stimulation.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a first electrode adapted to be electrically coupled to at least a first afferent nerve fiber in a first auricular branch of a vagus nerve of a patient;
- a second electrode adapted to be electrically coupled to at least a second afferent nerve fiber in a second auricular branch of the vagus nerve;
- a stimulation circuit connected to each of the first electrode and the second electrode to deliver a first signal to the first electrode and a second signal to the second electrode, thereby respectively stimulating each of the at least first and second corresponding nerve fibers;
- a detection device adapted to detect pulmonary activity of the patient and convert the detected pulmonary activity into a corresponding detection signal for delivery to a controller that is connected to the stimulation circuit;
- and
- the controller connected to each of the stimulation circuit and the detection device and adapted to adjust each of the first signal and the second signal based on the received detection signal.
A method for providing a neurostimulation function comprising:
- receiving a signal from a detection device detecting pulmonary activity of a patient;
- comparing the received signal to a reference threshold value algorithmically determined from previously received signals to find a predefined relation;
- and
- when a predefined relation is found, sending a stimulation signal to an electrode that is electrically coupled to at an auricular branch of a vagus nerve of the patient to achieve the neurostimulation function.
An apparatus comprising:
- a detection device adapted to detect pulmonary activity of a patient and convert the detected pulmonary activity into a corresponding detection signal;
- a controller connected to the detection device and adapted to receive the detection signal and to generate an output signal;
- a stimulation circuit connected to the controller and adapted to receive the output signal and to generate a neurostimulation signal;
- and
- a first electrode adapted to be electrically coupled to an afferent nerve fiber of an auricular branch of a vagus nerve of a patient, the stimulation circuit adapted to deliver the neurostimulation signal to the first electrode for selective stimulation of the nerve fiber to achieve a therapeutic function.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.