Electronic peripheral nerve stimulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10549099-B2
Application number	US-201715583568-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2017
Priority date	Apr 29, 2016
Publication date	Feb 4, 2020
Grant date	Feb 4, 2020

Abstract

A technology is described for an electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system. The electronic nerve stimulation system can include a stimulation device and an electrode array. The stimulation device can be operable to generate a high-frequency alternating current. The electrode array can be operable to apply the high-frequency alternating current received from the stimulation device to selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within a peripheral nerve to block transmission of neural signals along the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system, comprising:
a stimulation device operable to generate a high-frequency alternating current; and
an electrode array operable to apply the high-frequency alternating current received from the stimulation device to selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within a peripheral nerve to block transmission of neural signals along the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve,
wherein the electrode array is an array of intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrodes, and wherein intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrode tips are individually coupled to the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve,
wherein the high-frequency alternating current applied to the array of intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrodes is between 0 and 150 micro amps (μA).

2. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the electrode array is operable to:
apply the high-frequency alternating current to selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve to block pain for a subject; and
not apply the high-frequency alternating current to selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve to preserve sensation and motor function for the subject.

3. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the array of intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrodes is a penetrating microneedle array.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the penetrating microneedle array is one or more of a Utah Electrode Array (UEA), a Utah Slant Electrode Array (USEA), a Longitudinal Intrafascicular Electrode array (LIFE), a Transverse Intrafascicular Multichannel Electrode array (TIME), and a Michigan array.

5. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulation device is further operable to generate the high-frequency alternating current to be a waveform ranging from 1 to 100 kilohertz (kHz).

6. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the electrode array is chronically and surgically implantable in a subject.

7. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulation device is operable to ramp up the high-frequency alternating current starting from 0 micro amps to a defined current level in accordance with a defined increase function.

8. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulation device is operable to provide the high-frequency alternating current to the electrode array via transcutanenous wires or via a wireless technology.

9. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , further comprising a power supply that provides direct current or alternating current to the stimulation device for generation of the high-frequency alternating current, wherein the direct current or the alternating current is provided via batteries or via a wall-plug adapter or via both batteries and wall-plug adapter.

10. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface that enables adjustment of at least one of a frequency and amplitude of the high-frequency alternating current.

11. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulation device is portable or non-portable.

12. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the transmission of neural signals along the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve is unblocked when the high-frequency alternating current stops being applied to the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve.

13. The electronic peripheral nerve stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulation device is further operable to apply a shift correction to center the high-frequency alternating current at 0 volts over a period of time.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrodes is an M×N array of electrodes having from 25 to 1000 electrodes.

15. A system for performing peripheral nerve stimulation, the system comprising:
a power source;
a stimulation device operable to generate a high-frequency alternating current using current received from the power source; and
an implantable electrode array communicatively coupled to the stimulation device,
wherein the implantable electrode array is operable to apply the high-frequency alternating current received from the stimulation device to selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within a peripheral nerve of a subject to block transmission of neural signals along the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve,
wherein the implantable electrode array is an array of intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrodes, and wherein intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrode tips are individually coupled to the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve,
wherein the high-frequency alternating current applied to the array of intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrodes is between 0 and 150 micro amps (μA).

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the electrode array is operable to:
apply the high-frequency alternating current to selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve to block pain for a subject; and
not apply the high-frequency alternating current to selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve to preserve sensation and motor function for the subject.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the array of intrafascicular peripheral nerve electrodes is a penetrating microneedle array.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the stimulation device is operable to ramp up the high-frequency alternating current starting from 0 micro amps to a defined current level in accordance with a defined increase function.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the stimulation device is operable to provide the high-frequency alternating current to the electrode array via transcutanenous wires or via a wireless technology.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the transmission of neural signals along the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve is unblocked when the high-frequency alternating current stops being applied to the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein the stimulation device is further operable to apply a shift correction to center the high-frequency alternating current at 0 volts over a period of time.

22. A method for electronically stimulating selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within a peripheral nerve, the method comprising:
receiving a current from a power source;
generating a high-frequency alternating current using the current received from the power source; and
providing the high-frequency alternating current to an implantable electrode array,
wherein the implantable electrode array is operable to apply the high-frequency alternating current to stimulate selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within a nerve of a peripheral subject for blocking transmission of neural signals along the selected subpopulations of peripheral nerve fibers within the peripheral nerve,
wherein the implant

Assignees

• Univ Utah Res Found

Inventors

• Kluger David
• Duncan Christopher
• Page David
• Clark Gregory
• Davis Tyler
• Wendelken Suzanne

Classifications

• A61N1/36171

  Frequency · CPC title

• A61N1/36157

  Current (A61N1/3616 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61N1/36071 Primary

  Pain · CPC title

• A61N1/37247

  User interfaces, e.g. input or presentation means · CPC title

• A61N1/06

  for high-frequency therapy · CPC title