Automated, objective method of assessing tinnitus condition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019223786-A1
Application number	US-201816196587-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 20, 2018
Priority date	Nov 20, 2017
Publication date	Jul 25, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for determining or quantifying tinnitus conditions within a patient, including determining if a patient has some form of tinnitus as well as categorizing or determining the severity of a tinnitus condition, if present. The described systems and methods are also useful in evaluating the efficacy a tinnitus treatment by measuring the degree of reduction of tinnitus symptoms in a patient. The described systems and methods also provide a personalized profile for each specific patient, allowing for more effective treatment options as various forms or causes of tinnitus become apparent.

First claim

1 . A method for determining a tinnitus condition of a patient comprising:
providing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) device; imaging said patient with said fMRI thereby generating a fMRI map of at least a portion of a brain said patient; identifying a plurality of voxels in said fMRI map corresponding to regions of said brain of said patient; analyzing said plurality of voxels, thereby determining a tinnitus condition of said patient.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of analyzing further comprises identifying one or more functional connections between two or more of said plurality of voxels.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein said step of determining a tinnitus condition further comprises analyzing said functional connections.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of performing said fMRI is performed in a resting state of said patient.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said tinnitus condition is the presence of or absence of tinnitus in said patient.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said tinnitus condition is a stage of progression of tinnitus in said patient.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said tinnitus condition is a type or severity of tinnitus of said patient.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said patient is currently undergoing a treatment for tinnitus and said tinnitus condition is a measure of efficacy of said treatment.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of voxels comprise one or more voxels corresponding to the amygdala region of said brain of said patient.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of voxels comprise one or more voxels corresponding to the precuneus region of said brain of said patient.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of voxels comprise one or more voxels corresponding to the amygdala region and the precuneus region of said brain of said patient.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein said one or more functional connections include at least one functional connection between voxels corresponding to said amygdala region and said precuneus region of said brain of said patient.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of identifying a plurality of voxels identifies a number of voxels selected from the range of 10 to 40 voxels.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of identifying a plurality of voxels identifies a number of voxels greater than or equal to 15 voxels.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein step of imaging said patient with said fMRI is performed over a predetermined period of time and wherein each of said plurality of voxels includes a time component.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels includes analyzing said plurality of voxels in the time domain.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels further comprises invariant analysis with respect to reparamertrization of activity in said voxels with respect to time.

18 . The method of claim , wherein said step of performing said fMRI generates said fMRI map as a time series of blood oxygen levels corresponding to a time period of greater than or equal to 5 minutes.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels analyzes each voxel over a time interval of less than or equal to 10 seconds.

20 . The method of claim , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels includes iteratively integrating at least a portion of a time series corresponding to each of said plurality of voxels thereby generating a plurality of irreducible trajectories.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels further comprises generating a lead matrix comprised of a plurality of signed areas wherein determination of the sign is informed by the direction of traversal of said irreducible trajectories.

22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels utilizes the chain of offsets model.

23 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels further comprise a step of reducing noise in said fMRI map.

24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels further comprises comparing said plurality of voxels to a library of voxel data in order to determine said tinnitus condition.

25 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of analyzing said plurality of voxels further comprises comparing said one or more functional connections to a library of connection data in order to determine said tinnitus condition.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein said comparing step is performed by a processor utilizing machine learning.

27 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said fMRI map corresponds to a portion of said brain of said patient.

28 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said fMRI map corresponds to substantially all of said brain of said patient.

29 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said fMRI map is a three dimensional representation of said patients brain over time.

30 . A system for determining a tinnitus condition of a patient comprising:
a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) device; and a processor; wherein said fMRI device generates a fMRI map of a brain said patient over a time period; wherein said fMRI map corresponds to a resting state of said patient; and wherein said processor:
identifies a plurality of voxels corresponding to regions of said brain of said patient;
identifies at least one functional connections between two or more of said plurality of voxels; and
analyzes said plurality of voxels in the time domain using iterated integrals to determine a tinnitus condition of said patient.

31 . A method for treating a tinnitus condition of a patient comprising:
providing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) device; imaging said patient with said fMRI thereby generating a fMRI map of at least a portion of a brain said patient; identifying a plurality of voxels in said fMRI map corresponding to regions of said brain of said patient; analyzing said plurality of voxels, thereby determining a personalized tinnitus condition of said patient; and treating said patent by providing a therapy based on said personalized tinnitus condition.

Assignees

• Univ Illinois

Inventors

• Husain Fatima T
• Baryshnikov Yuliy
• Zimmerman Benjamin Joseph
• Abraham Ivan Thomas

Classifications

• A61B5/128

  evaluating tinnitus · CPC title

• A61B5/4848 Primary

  Monitoring or testing the effects of treatment, e.g. of medication · CPC title

• G01R33/5608

  Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels (image data processing or generation, in general G06T) · CPC title

• G01R33/4806 Primary

  Functional imaging of brain activation · CPC title