987 results about "Cerebrum" patented technology

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for making such apparatus for providing controlled and directional stimulation patterns for tissue stimulation. The apparatus may be useful in stimulation nervous tissue in the brain, about the spinal cord, on nerve roots, about peripheral nerves, and in muscles, among others. The apparatus includes a implantable pulse generator connected to a lead. The lead has electrodes placed about a perimeter. In addition, the lead may include electrodes placed longitudinally along the axis of the lead. By applying charge differences between circumferentially distributed electrodes, a smaller stimulation field may be established. In addition, by stimulating between electrodes distributed longitudinally on the same side, a directional flow field may be established. Such leads are especially useful in deep brain stimulation as the region in which a stimulation field is strong enough to produce tissue stimulation is directional and minimized.

Methods and systems for long term monitoring of one or more physiological parameters such as respiration, heart rate, body temperature, electrical heart activity, blood oxygenation, blood flow velocity, blood pressure, intracranial pressure, the presence of emboli in the blood stream and electrical brain activity are provided. Data is acquired non-invasively using ambulatory data acquisition techniques.

A method of treating a brain disorder by heat transfer from brain tissue comprising the steps of surgically cutting a heat transfer aperture into a patient's skull, thereby exposing a predetermined portion of patient's brain; surgically implanting into said heat transfer aperture a heat pump having one or more electrical sensor elements and one or more temperature sensor elements; surgically implanting a heat transfer management unit in a body cavity of said patient such that a micro controller of the heat transfer management unit is connected to one or more activity sensor elements and one or more temperature sensor elements contacting brain tissue and connecting the heat transfer management unit to said heat pump via a lead bundle. Optionally, the heat transfer unit may be located external to the patient's body. Responsive to signals from one or more activity or temperature sensor elements, mathematical algorithms of the heat transfer management unit determine abnormal brain activity, causing the heat pump to remove heat from the brain tissue into a heat sink, thereby cooling the predetermined portion of the patient's brain. This technique utilizes acute hypothermia by means of a Peltier cooler or similar device to cool the brain temperature to reduce or prevent seizure initiation and/or propagation. The method may be used in association with brain stimulation and/or drug application to acutely avoid the occurrence of a seizure episode.

Systems and methods for introducing one or more stimulating drugs and/or applying electrical stimulation to the brain to alleviate pain use at least one implantable system control unit (SCU), producing electrical pulses delivered via electrodes implanted in the brain and/or producing drug infusion pulses, wherein the stimulation is delivered to targeted areas in the brain. In some embodiments, one or more sensed conditions are used to adjust stimulation parameters.

Apparatus and methods for treatment of stroke are provided. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention disposes at least one catheter having a distal occlusive member in the common carotid artery of the hemisphere of the cerebral occlusion. Retrograde flow may be provided through the catheter to effectively control cerebral flow characteristics. Under such controlled flow conditions, a thrombectomy device may be used to treat the occlusion, and any emboli generated are directed into the catheter.

A method and apparatus for treatment of an eating disorder includes electrically, mechanically and/or pharmaceutically/chemically stimulating a of the vagus nerve of the lower esophagus, cardia, esophageal/cardia junction, cardia/fundus junction or upper stomach so as to induce afferent action potentials on the vagus nerve. The device may be noninvasively adjusted after implantation to provide increased or decreased restriction on the patient's gastrointestinal tract. Each stimulus may be administered as a series of programmed pulses of defined amplitude, duration and period, to evoke a responsive signal to the brain by the target nerve, effective for producing a temporary feeling of satiety in the person. An implantable stimulus generator may be operatively coupled to a nerve electrode, pressure device or chemical outlet to apply a defined signal to a selected nerve branch. The implantable stimulus generator is programmable to allow clinician programming of defined signal parameters effective to treat the eating disorder of the patient. Methods are also provided to identify electrodes nearest to a branch of the vagus nerve to apply an electrical stimulation signal with improved efficiency.

The present invention relates to the use of umbilical cord blood cells from a donor or patient to provide neural cells which may be used in transplantation. The isolated cells according to the present invention may be used to effect autologous and allogeneic transplantation and repair of neural tissue, in particular, tissue of the brain and spinal cord and to treat neurodegenerative diseases of the brain and spinal cord.

A system and method for predicting the likelihood of occurrence of an impending neurological episode. Electrical stimuli are delivered to a structure of the brain. Response field potentials evoked by the stimuli are sensed. Analysis of these field potentials allows for predictions as to the occurrence of an impending, but not yet occurring, neurological disorder. In one example, a measurement of change in response pulses is used to determine a level of interconnectivity in the structures of the brain. The level of functional interconnectivity is used in predicting the occurrence of the neurological event. An example of such a neurological event includes an epileptic seizure.

A flexible, conformable, sensor assembly is provided, including an electrode array especially adapted for stable, long-term recording of EEG signals from a pre-term or neonatal infant in intensive care. A kit or sterile pack includes guidance for placement of the electrodes over a designated area of the infant's brain, an area likely to be injured. The sensor assembly includes a left-side and a right-side flexible strip bearing at least electrodes and optional temperature, motion, and optical sensors provide for the monitoring of an extended range of parameters including aspects of cerebral perfusion and metabolism. Optional impedance measurements provide an indication of neuronal swelling. Stable performance over from three days to about a week is intended so that progress, effects of treatment, and outcome can be considered.

A directional brain stimulation lead assembly provides a lead body and an insulating member defining one or more windows that selectively expose portions of electrodes carried by the lead body to produce a directional stimulation current field. The lead assembly can achieve more effective localization of electrical stimulation to very small brain targets, and thereby reduce the incidence of material side effects caused by collateral stimulation of brain tissue adjoining a desired brain target. In addition, the directional lead can sense brain activity on a more localized basis.

There is disclosed a porous emboli deflector for preventing cerebral emboli while maintaining cerebral blood flow during an endovascular or open surgical procedure. The device prevents the entrance of emboli of a size able to cause stroke (such as greater than 100 microns) from entering either the right or left common carotid arteries, and/or the right or left vertebral arteries by deflecting emboli downstream of these vessels. The device can be placed prior to any manipulation of the heart or aorta allowing maximal protection of the brain during the index procedure. The deflector has a low profile within the aorta which allows sheaths, catheters, or wires used in the index procedure to pass. Also disclosed are methods for insertion and removal of the deflector.

A cerebral and/or interface system has a housing mechanism configured to be at least partially spaced in a cavity formed in the subject's skull; an attaching mechanism for attaching the housing mechanism to the subject's skull; a sealing mechanism for providing a fluid-tight seal between the housing mechanism and the subject's skull; a control mechanism spaced within the housing mechanism; a communication mechanism with one or more sensors embedded in the subject's brain connecting the control mechanism to the subject's brain; and a power source spaced within the housing mechanism. Optional embodiments include a treatment portion for cooling or heating adjacent tissue, a medicament portion for administering medicament to adjacent tissue, a separate auxiliary compartment with a removable lid secured to or spaced apart from the housing mechanism, contacts extending outwardly from housing mechanism, and/or a supporting mechanism for precisely displacing the housing mechanism angularly or along x-, y-, and z-axes.

Morphing or fitting a brain atlas to a diagnostic image data set of the patient, or to a patient registered to the brain atlas, is enhanced using measurements of one or more physical characteristics of the brain taken with the aid of an instrument as it is being inserted into the brain. The measurements are then compared against known physical characteristics of certain brain structures, thus permitting correlation of the measured physical characteristic to a brain structure. The brain atlas then may be morphed or deformed so that the identified brain structure in the atlas is at or near the position at which the measurement was taken, as known from the tracked position of the instrument.

A method and apparatus for treating persons suffering from an eating disorder includes direct or indirect stimulation of selected areas of the brain associated with a symptom of the eating disorder. The stimulation regimen is programmable to enable physician optimization of stimulation signal parameters to ameliorate at least one symptom of bulimia or another eating disorder. Certain embodiments employ deep brain stimulation and/or sensing together with cranial nerve stimulation and/or sensing.

Systems and methods for treating neuro-psychiatric disorders, such as depression or schizophrenia, and/or other illnesses are disclosed. A patient is diagnosed with a particular neuro-psychiatric disorder or other illness. An electric nerve stimulation (ENS) technique, such as vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), is administered to the patient in conjunction with a magnetic nerve stimulation (MNS) technique. The magnetic nerve stimulation (MNS) technique includes applying a magnetic field to a pre-selected synaptic region of a brain of the patient based on the diagnosis. A physiological response of the brain, such as electroencephalogram (EEG) activity, is monitored. One or more parameters of the magnetic field may be selectively adapted in response to the monitored physiological response. The administration of the ENS technique and the MNS technique may be performed simultaneously, in serial order, or in alternating order depending on the diagnosis.

A method of estimating blood flow in the brain, comprising: a) causing currents to flow inside the head by producing electric fields inside the head; b) measuring at least changes in the electric fields and the currents; and c) estimating changes in the blood volume of the head, using the measurements of the electric fields and the currents.

An electrode array (10) that is implantable within the inferior colliculus of the midbrain and/or other appropriate regions of the brain of an implantee and adapted to provide electrical stimulation thereto. The electrode array (10) an elongate member (11) having a plurality of electrodes (12) mounted thereon in a longitudinal array. A delivery cannula (30) for delivering the electrode array (10) comprised of two half-pipes (31) is also described.

In Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, rewards typically come seconds after reward-triggering actions, creating an explanatory conundrum known as the distal reward problem or the credit assignment problem. How does the brain know what firing patterns of what neurons are responsible for the reward if (1) the firing patterns are no longer there when the reward arrives and (2) most neurons and synapses are active during the waiting period to the reward? A model network and computer simulation of cortical spiking neurons with spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) modulated by dopamine (DA) is disclosed to answer this question. STDP is triggered by nearly-coincident firing patterns of a presynaptic neuron and a postsynaptic neuron on a millisecond time scale, with slow kinetics of subsequent synaptic plasticity being sensitive to changes in the extracellular dopamine DA concentration during the critical period of a few seconds after the nearly-coincident firing patterns. Random neuronal firings during the waiting period leading to the reward do not affect STDP, and hence make the neural network insensitive to this ongoing random firing activity. The importance of precise firing patterns in brain dynamics and the use of a global diffusive reinforcement signal in the form of extracellular dopamine DA can selectively influence the right synapses at the right time.

An embodiment of the invention includes a device, system and method for determining the characteristics of deep tissue. The novel method includes measuring blood flow rate and oxygenation characteristics of the tissue, and determining oxygen metabolism of the tissue as a function of the measure blood flow rate and measure oxygenation. The blow flow rate characteristics are measured as a function of light fluctuations caused by the tissue, while the oxygenation characteristics are measured as a function of transmission of light through the tissue with respect to the wavelength of light. The tissue may be layered tissue, for example, a portion of a brain. The tissue characteristics may be measured during times of varying levels of exercise intensity.

Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to collect neuro data from an organ, such as a brain. Spikes may be detected using raw neuro data collected from the organ. The spikes may be sorted. Underlying neuronal firing rates may be estimated using the sorted spikes. The neuronal firing rates may be transmitted outside the organ for real time decoding.