Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61N—ELECTROTHERAPY; MAGNETOTHERAPY; RADIATION THERAPY; ULTRASOUND THERAPY
  • A61N1/00—Electrotherapy; Circuits therefor
  • A61N1/18—Applying electric currents by contact electrodes
  • A61N1/32—Applying electric currents by contact electrodes alternating or intermittent currents
  • A61N1/36—Applying electric currents by contact electrodes alternating or intermittent currents for stimulation
  • A61N1/36014—External stimulators, e.g. with patch electrodes
  • A61N1/3603—Control systems
  • A61N1/36034—Control systems specified by the stimulation parameters

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an electrostimulation device and method.
• the device and method of the invention are able to combat the smoking habit and, together with this, other secondary disturbances caused or not caused by the smoking habit, to generate an overall personal well-being.
• the device and method of the invention can also be used to combat other bad habits or for other purposes.
• a branch of reflexology known as auricolotherapy studies the effects on the body of stimuli applied to the ears.
• benefits for the human body can be obtained by stimulating suitable points of the ears; in particular it has been found that a suitable stimulation can limit or interrupt the smoking habit, and in other cases can aid the struggle against stress, migraine, etc.
• an object of the invention is to provide an electrostimulation device and method which enable a subject to be stimulated by electrical pulses, the points of application and characteristics of which are personalized for the individual subject.
• Another object of the invention is to provide an electrostimulation device and method, the effectiveness of which improves with time by virtue of a sophisticated system of self-learning which, as the number of treatments increases, enables patients to be treated with electrical pulses having characteristics similar to those of other patients with substantially the same problem; in this manner the treatment becomes very rapid because from the commencement of treatment the pulses applied to the patient present characteristics very similar to those of maximum effectiveness for the treatment, consequently the number of sessions required to attain the purpose and terminate the treatment is very- small.
• a further object of the invention is to provide an electrostimulation device and method which enable several bad habits and problems to be treated simultaneously in one subject, for example a subject can be treated for smoking and stress simultaneously.
• This characteristic of the device and method of the invention proves to be of considerable importance because if only smoking addiction was concerned, overcoming this would still leave a very high risk of relapse because of side effects, in particular stress.
• a further object of the invention is to provide a device which can be used not only as a stimulator (i.e. to stimulate a subject) but also as a sensor (i.e. to identify those points of the subject's ear which present best conductivity, and hence be subsequently used for application of the stimulation electrodes).
• Figure 1 shows a Nogier auricular chart indicating those ear points to be stimulated to overcome the smoking habit
• Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a device according to the present invention
• Figure 3 shows a block diagram of a method according to the present invention
• Figure 4 shows an outline software arrangement for implementing the method of the present invention
• Figure 5 is an outline diagram showing the flow of information within the software implementing the method of the present invention
• Figure 6 shows a block diagram of the electronic circuits of the device according to the invention when operating as a stimulator
• Figure 7 shows a block diagram of the electronic circuits of the device according to the invention when operating as a sensor, Said figures, and in particular Figure 2, show an electrostimulation device indicated overall by the reference numeral 1.
• the device 1 comprises acquisition means 2 for data A, B, C relative to a subject to be treated, connected to data processing means 3.
• the processing means 3 are arranged to generate control signals 4, 5 for means 6 for stimulating the subject to be treated.
• the processing means 3 are arranged to process the acquired data on the basis of several auricular charts M (an auricular chart is shown for example in Figure 1) indicative of those points of the body on which to act to treat a given disturbance.
• Auricular charts are known and are obtainable from the literature; in particular, reference is made here to Nogier charts which have been developed using forty different models for a like number of pathologies or behavioural habits or simply disturbances of the person (stress, migraine, etc.).
• the auricular charts indicate those points of the ear which must be stimulated to overcome a determined personal habit or behaviour.
• the control signals comprise first control signals 4 indicative of those ear positions to be stimulated and second control signals 5 indicative of the intensity (pli), the repetition frequency (pfv), the application time (atp), the symmetry (dcy) and the incremental intensity ramp (sli) of the stimulus to be applied to the subject.
• the device 1 comprises first storage means 7 for the acquired data and manual control means 8 for regulating one or more of the first and second control signals 4, 5 originating from the processing means 3, to generate third signals 9 indicative of the stimulus to be applied to the subject.
• the data A, B, C acquired and stored by the first storage means 7 relate to case-history data (A), quantitative indices (B) and qualitative indices (C).
• the case-history data relate to: age, sex, ethnic origin, collateral disturbances (for example stress), organic disturbances and pain.
• the quantitative indices B relate to: time of addiction to the habit (no. of years) and daily addiction (habit frequency).
• the qualitative indices C relate to the Fagerstrom tolerance test (physical addiction test). The Fagerstrom tolerance test is as follows:
• the value C is given by the sum of the points relative to each reply to the questions of the Fagerstrom tolerance test.
• the first and second control signals 4, 5 are determined as follows.
• the first control signals 4 identify those ear points to be stimulated; these points consist of all those of the auricular charts M relative to the habits or disturbances to be overcome. For example if smoking and stress are to be overcome, two auricular charts M are used, each of which identifies those ear points to be stimulated.
• the first signal 4 identifies as points to be stimulated all the stimulation points present in the smoking and stress charts.
• the second signals 5 are identified as follows.
• the device 1 also comprises second storage means 11 for storing the third signals 9.
• the device also comprises third storage means 12 for the successes S obtained during treatment, and communication means 14 for feeding to the processing means 3 at least one feedback signal indicative both of the successes obtained and of the third control signals 9.
• the device comprises statistical processing means 15 for the third control signals 9 on the basis of the successes obtained during treatment, on the basis of the input data A, B, C and on the basis of the manual control signal.
• the aforesaid means all consist of the circuits of one or more microprocessors operationally connected together.
• the device also comprises means 17 for connecting the subject to be treated to earth.
• the electrical stimulus is transmitted to the stimulation means 6 via a bidirectional communication device 16 which operates without connection to the electric mains.
• Figure 6 shows the stimulation means 6. These comprise a regulator for automatically regulating the stimulation pulses on the basis of the skin conductivity characteristics.
• the transmission system can be either of PWM type (pulse width modulation) or PAM type (pulse amplitude modulation) or PFM type (pulse frequency modulation).
• the regulator 20 is connected to a circuit 21 comprising a digital potentiometer adjustable between 0-100% and a shunt 23 connected in parallel; the potentiometer 22 and shunt 24 are connected to a current regulator 24, to an error amplifier 25, and to a voltage generator of low power switching type, current-controlled from 0-1.2 mA by the regulator 20.
• the voltage generator 26 is connected to a branch 27 of the circuit extending between the shunt 23 and a static switch 28.
• the circuit 21 also comprises a pulse amplitude (current intensity), frequency and shape modulator 29, connected to the static switch 28.
• the potentiometer 22, the voltage generator 26 and the modulator 29 are all controlled by the regulator 20, which is preferably a microprocessor.
• the circuit 21 also comprises one or more stimulation electrodes 30 of known type to be applied to the ear (preferably two electrodes, one for each ear).
• Figure 6 also shows the element 17 duly connected to earth (this element constitutes the means for connection to earth); the element 17 must be held in the hand during treatment, in order to close the electrical circuit through the subject to be treated.
• the ear points to be stimulated are all those identified by the auricular chart relative to smoking (shown in Figure 1) and those of the auricular chart relative to stress (not shown but available in the literature).
• the ear points to be stimulated are the same as those previously identified as they correspond to all those defined by the auricular chart relative to smoking
• the device can operate not only as a stimulator, but also as a sensor for sensing the electrical impedance of the skin of the subject to be treated.
• the regulator 20 is connected to a circuit presenting a branch 35 connected to a first input of the electrometric differential amplifier 36, which is connected to an analog/digital converter 37 connected to the regulator 20 to provide it with the measured impedance values.
• a second circuit branch 38 comprises a biasing circuit 39 connected on one side to the regulator 20 and on the other side to an adder 40.
• the adder processes the signals from an electrical impedance measuring device 41 and from the biasing circuit 39, to provide a resultant signal to a second input of the differential amplifier 36.
• the measuring device 41 is connected to the sensors 30 applied to the ears; again in this case the subject holds the earth connection element 17 in the hand.
• the present invention also relates to an electrostimulation method which consists of acquiring in 50 the data relative to a subject to be treated, and processing the data in 51 to generate control signals indicative of a stimulus to be applied to the subject to be treated; the data are processed on the basis of several auricular charts M indicative of those points of the body on which to act to treat a given disturbance, in such a manner as to treat simultaneously and synergically several disturbances of a subject.
• the control signals comprise first control signals 4 indicative of those ear positions to be stimulated, and second control signals 5 indicative of the intensity (pli), of the repetition frequency of the stimulus (pfv), of the application time (atp), of the symmetry (dcy) and of the incremental intensity ramp (sli) of the stimulus to be applied to the subject.
• the acquired data are stored in 52.
• One or more of the first and second control signals 4, 5 can be manually adjusted in 53 to generate third control signals 9 indicative of the stimulus to be applied to the subject; the third signals 9 are also stored in 54.
• the successes S obtained during the treatment are suitably stored in 55, this information being used, together with the third control signals 9, during the processing in 51 to regulate the first and second control signals 4, 5.
• the third control signals 9 are statistically processed on the basis of the successes, on the basis of the input data and on the basis of the manual control signal.
• the method is implemented by means of electrostimulation software by which input data is processed on the basis of several auricular charts indicative of those points of the body on which to act to treat a given disturbance, in order to generate a stimulus to be applied to the subject to be treated, in such a manner as to treat simultaneously and synergically several disturbances of a subject.
• electrostimulation device and method of the invention are particularly advantageous as they enable very effective treatments to be achieved in a short time for more than one bad habit or problem of the subject, for example smoking and stress.
• the electrostimulation device and method conceived in this manner are susceptible to numerous modifications and variants, all falling within the scope of the inventive concept; moreover all details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. In practice the materials used and the dimensions can be chosen at will according to requirements and to the state of the art.

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• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Biophysics (AREA)
• Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Biomedical Technology (AREA)
• Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy & Molecular Imaging (AREA)
• Radiology & Medical Imaging (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Electrotherapy Devices (AREA)

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Family Cites Families (4)

• 2003
  • 2003-09-09 WO PCT/EP2003/009987 patent/WO2005023362A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2003-09-09 EP EP03818501A patent/EP1663387A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-09-09 AU AU2003260499A patent/AU2003260499A1/en not_active Abandoned

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