Method and apparatus for providing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to a patient

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9456784-B2
Application number	US-201313829349-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2013
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

Apparatus for applying Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to a patient, the apparatus including a head mount for disposition on the head of a patient; and a plurality of magnet assemblies for releasable mounting on the head mount, wherein each of the magnet assemblies includes a magnet for selectively providing a rapidly changing magnetic field capable of inducing weak electric currents in the brain of a patient so as to modify the natural electrical activity of the brain of the patient; wherein the number of magnet assemblies mounted on the head mount, their individual positioning on the head mount, and their selective provision of a rapidly changing magnetic field is selected so as to allow the spatial, strength and temporal characteristics of the magnetic field to be custom tailored for each patient, whereby to provide patient-specific TMS therapy, to assist in diagnosis or to map out brain function in neuroscience research.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for applying Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to a patient, the apparatus comprising:
a head mount for disposition on the head of the patient; and
a plurality of magnet assemblies configured for releasable mounting on the head mount, wherein each of the magnet assemblies comprises a magnet for selectively providing a rapidly changing magnetic field capable of inducing weak electric currents in the brain of the patient so as to modify the natural electrical activity of the brain of the patient,
wherein each of the magnet assemblies includes a permanent magnet and a motor for rotating the permanent magnet;
a computerized controller configured to selectively activate the motor of at least one of the magnet assemblies to rotate the permanent magnet of that magnet assembly and thereby provide Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to the patient,
wherein:
(i) the computerized controller is configured to activate the motor to rotate the permanent magnet for a stimulus period of a given duration, and the stimulus period has a repetition rate of a given frequency, and
(ii) during the stimulus period, the computerized controller is configured to activate the motor to rotate the permanent magnet at a particular rate to generate a particular stimulating pattern;
wherein the number of magnet assemblies mounted on the head mount, their individual positioning on the head mount, and their selective provision of the rapidly changing magnetic field is selected to allow the spatial, strength and temporal characteristics of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to be custom tailored for the patient, whereby to provide patient-specific Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy, to assist in diagnosis or to map out brain function in neuroscience research;
wherein the computerized controller is configured to activate the motor to rotate the permanent magnet at a frequency of at least 400 Hertz and provide a dB/dt of at least 500-600 Tesla/second; wherein the stimulus period has a duration of 1-100 milliseconds; and
wherein the repetition rate of the stimulus period is 0.1 to 2 Hertz.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the head mount comprises a skull cap.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the magnet assemblies are secured to the head mount using a hook-and-loop fastener.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the hook-and-loop fastener comprises a fastener base disposed on the head mount and a fastener connect disposed on each of the magnet assemblies.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the permanent magnet comprises a rare earth magnet.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the rare earth magnet comprises neodymium.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of electrodes for monitoring the electrical activity of the brain.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the magnet assemblies are sized so that up to 32 magnet assemblies can be mounted to the head mount.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the number of magnet assemblies mounted to the head mount is between 1 and 32.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the permanent magnet has a maximum field strength of 1.48 Tesla.

11. A method for providing Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to a patient, the method comprising:
providing apparatus comprising:
a head mount for disposition on the head of the patient; and
a plurality of magnet assemblies for releasable mounting on the head mount, wherein each of the magnet assemblies comprises a magnet for selectively providing a rapidly changing magnetic field capable of inducing weak electric currents in the brain of the patient so as to modify the natural electrical activity of the brain of the patient;
wherein each of the magnet assemblies comprises a permanent magnet and a motor for rotating the permanent magnet;
positioning the head mount on the head of the patient, and positioning a selected number of magnet assemblies on the head mount at selected locations; and
selectively causing the motor of at least one of the magnet assemblies to rotate the permanent magnet of that magnet assembly and thereby provide a rapidly changing magnetic field with at least one of the magnet assemblies to provide Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to the patient, wherein:
(i) the motor rotates the permanent magnet for a stimulus period of a given duration, and the stimulus period has a repetition rate of a given frequency, and
(ii) during the stimulus period, the motor rotates the permanent magnet at a particular rate to generate a particular stimulating pattern;
wherein the number of magnet assemblies mounted on the head mount, their individual positioning on the head mount, and their selective provision of the rapidly changing magnetic field is selected so as to custom tailor the spatial, strength and temporal characteristics of the magnetic field for the patient, whereby to provide patient-specific TMS therapy, to assist in diagnosis or to map out brain function in neuroscience research;
wherein the motor rotates the permanent magnet at a frequency of at least 400 Hertz and provides a dB/dt of at least 500-600 Tesla/second;
wherein the stimulus period has a duration of 1-100 milliseconds; and
wherein the repetition rate of the stimulus period is 0.1 to 2 Hertz.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the head mount comprises a skull cap.

13. The method according to claim 11 wherein the magnet assemblies are secured to the head mount using a hook-and-loop fastener.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the hook-and-loop fastener comprises a fastener base disposed on the head mount and a fastener connect disposed on each of the magnet assemblies.

15. The method according to claim 11 wherein the permanent magnet comprises a rare earth magnet.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the rare earth magnet comprises neodymium.

17. A method according to claim 16 wherein the permanent magnet has a maximum field strength of 1.48 Tesla.

18. The method according to claim 11 further comprising a computerized controller for selectively causing selected ones of the magnet assemblies to provide a rapidly changing magnetic field.

19. The method according to claim 11 further comprising a plurality of electrodes for monitoring the electrical activity of the brain.

20. A method according to claim 11 wherein the magnet assemblies are sized so that up to 32 magnet assemblies can be mounted to the head mount.

21. A method according to claim 20 wherein the number of magnet assemblies mounted to the head mount is between 1 and 32.

Assignees

• Methodist Hospital
• Univ Cornell

Inventors

• Helekar Santosh A
• Voss Henning U

Classifications

• A61B5/0036

  including treatment, e.g., using an implantable medical device, ablating, ventilating · CPC title

• A61B5/05

  Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves (measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24) · CPC title

• A61N2/06

  using magnetic fields produced by permanent magnets (A61N2/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B5/4064

  Evaluating the brain (for intracranial pressure A61B5/031; for cerebral blood gases A61B5/14553; using EEG A61B5/369) · CPC title

• A42B1/04

  Soft caps; Hoods · CPC title