System and method for predicting an excitation pattern of a deep brain stimulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018199895-A1
Application number	US-201715406895-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 16, 2017
Priority date	Jan 16, 2017
Publication date	Jul 19, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method for analyzing bioelectrical signals generated during a deep brain stimulation (DBS) includes an apparatus having a housing having a signal input and a signal output and an electrical circuit disposed within the housing and electrically coupled between the signal input and the signal output. The electrical circuit is configured to receive bioelectrical signals corresponding to a cyclic excitation signal transmitted by a pulse generator during a DBS and generate an output signal comprising a series of timing pulses, wherein each timing pulse simulates an envelope of the cyclic excitation signal. The signal output of the housing is electrically coupleable to an auxiliary trigger input of an imaging system and the series of timing pulses can be used to trigger image data acquisition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus for analyzing bioelectrical signals generated during a deep brain stimulation (DBS), the apparatus comprising:
a housing having a signal input and a signal output; and an electrical circuit disposed within the housing and electrically coupled between the signal input and the signal output, the electrical circuit configured to:
receive bioelectrical signals corresponding to a cyclic excitation signal transmitted by a pulse generator during a DBS; and
generate an output signal comprising a series of timing pulses, wherein each timing pulse simulates an envelope of the cyclic excitation signal.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the electrical circuit is further configured to:
transform the bioelectrical signals into a series of digital logic pulses representing a plurality of active portions of the cyclic excitation signal, each active portion comprising a plurality of digital logic pulses; and
wherein the electrical circuit further comprises a processor programmed to define each timing pulse having a pulse width that approximates a duration of an active portion of the DBS.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the processor is further programmed to:
record timing of the series of digital logic pulses in real time;
calculate an average duration of the plurality of active portions of the DBS based on the recorded timing; and
define the pulse width of the timing pulse based on the calculated average duration.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the processor is further programmed to:
count the number of recorded digital logic pulses;
identify a signal lock if the number of recorded digital logic pulses is within a predetermined threshold; and
generate the output signal after identifying the signal lock.

5 . The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the processor is further programmed to:
compare timing of the series of digital logic pulses to the series of timing pulses generated output signal; and
calculate a timing offset based on the comparison, the timing offset representing a difference between actual and predicted timing of the cyclic excitation signal.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the electrical circuit is configured to transform the bioelectrical signals into a series of transistor-transistor logic (TTL) pulses.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the electrical circuit comprises:
a comparator circuit that converts the bioelectrical signals into TTL pulses; and
a pulse stretcher that correlates each TTL pulse with a corresponding excitation signal generated during the DBS.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the signal output of the housing is electrically coupleable to an auxiliary trigger input of an MRI system.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one sensor coupled to the sensor input of the housing and coupleable to a patient to receive bioelectrical signals therefrom during a DBS.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an adjustment device positioned on an external surface of the housing and coupled to the electrical circuit, the adjustment device configured to modify a frequency threshold of the received bioelectrical signals.

11 . A method for analyzing bioelectrical signals generated during a deep brain stimulation (DBS), the method comprising:
obtaining bioelectrical signals generated from excitation signals transmitted by a pulse generator during a DBS; transforming the bioelectrical signals into a series of digital logic pulses representing a plurality of active portions of the DBS, each active portion comprising a plurality of digital logic pulses; and generating a series of timing pulses from the series of digital logic pulses, each timing pulse synchronized with predicted timing of an active portion of the DBS.

12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising generating the series of timing pulses such that each timing pulse represents a plurality of digital logic pulses corresponding to a respective active portion of the DBS.

13 . The method of claim 11 further comprising:
recording timing of the series of digital logic pulses in real time;
calculating an average duration of the plurality of active portions of the DBS based on the recorded timing; and
defining a pulse width of the series of timing pulses based on the calculated average duration.

14 . The method of claim 11 further comprising:
outputting the series of timing pulses to a medical imaging device; and
triggering image data acquisition with the series of timing pulses.

15 . The method of claim 11 further comprising:
transforming the bioelectrical signals into a series of transistor-transistor (TTL) pulses; and
triggering fMRI image acquisition with the TTL pulses.

16 . The method of claim 11 further comprising generating the series of timing pulses such that each timing pulse has a pulse width corresponding to a duration of an active portion of the plurality of active portions of the DBS.

17 . A medical imaging system comprising:
an imaging device configured to acquire medical image data from a patient and reconstruct medical images therefrom; a sensor system configured to detect bioelectrical signals generated within the patient during a deep brain stimulation (DBS); and a DBS signal emulator removeably coupleable to a trigger input of the imaging device and to the sensor system, the DBS signal emulator programmed to:
transform bioelectrical signals received from the sensor system into a series of timing pulses having pulse widths predictive of active periods of the DBS; and
output the series of timing pulses to the trigger input of the imaging device.

18 . The medical imaging system of claim 17 wherein the DBS signal emulator comprises an electrical circuit disposed within a housing; and
wherein the electrical circuit comprises:
circuitry configured to transform the bioelectrical signals into a series of digital logic pulses; and
a processor programmed to generate the series of timing pulses from the series of digital logic pulses, each timing pulse having a pulse width that simulates an envelope of a cyclic DBS excitation.

19 . The medical imaging system of claim 18 wherein the processor is further programmed to:
record timing of the series of digital logic pulses in real time;
count the recorded series of digital logic pulses; and
output a signal lock indicator if the count exceeds a predefined threshold.

20 . The medical imaging system of claim 17 wherein the imaging device comprises a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device; and
wherein the series of pulses trigger MRI image acquisition.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Fiveland Eric William
• Hancu Ileana
• Ashe Jeffrey

Classifications

• A61B5/7285 Primary

  for synchronizing or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal · CPC title

• A61B5/0042

  for the brain · CPC title

• A61B5/7203

  for noise prevention, reduction or removal · CPC title

• A61N1/3606

  adapted for a particular treatment · CPC title

• A61N1/0534

  Electrodes for deep brain stimulation · CPC title