KR101653225B1 - Apparatus and method for treating pain - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for treating pain, comprising: a neural signal detector for detecting a neural signal using an electrode for detecting a neural signal inserted in the brain; and a neural signal analyzer for analyzing the neural signal detected through the neural signal detector, A pain regulator for predicting and outputting an electric stimulation control signal according to the predicted pain level and an electric stimulation generator for applying an electric stimulation through an electric stimulation electrode inserted in the brain according to the electric stimulation control signal.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TREATING PAIN [0002]

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for treating pain, and more particularly, to a device and a method for treating a pain that can measure the cranial nerve signals and analyze the measured nerve signals to alleviate the pain by applying electrical stimulation .

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a treatment for patients with various diseases such as Parkinson's disease, muscle tension disorder, sedation, chronic pain, to be.

In particular, deep brain stimulation does not cure Parkinson's disease itself, but improves the athletic performance of the patient, reduces the use of drugs for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, and plays a major role in improving the quality of life of patients.

However, the conventional deep brain stimulation does not consider the feedback of the patient's symptom improvement and sets the intensity and the frequency of the stimulation depending on the physician's experience at the time of inserting the electrode of the deep brain stimulator, It stimulates.

Thus, the prior art may have the habit of constant electrical stimulation, thereby reducing the response to stimulation in the patient ' s brain, which has the disadvantage of reducing the effect of improving the patient ' s motor function and may cause other side effects.

Disclosure of the Invention The present invention has been conceived to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for measuring a cranial nerve signal and analyzing the nerve signal to predict a degree of pain, And a method for treating pain.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pain treatment apparatus comprising: a neural signal detector for detecting a neural signal using an electrode for detecting a neural signal inserted in the brain; A pain modulator for analyzing a nerve signal to predict a degree of pain and output an electric stimulation control signal according to the predicted degree of pain; and an electric stimulation control unit for applying an electric stimulus through the electric stimulation electrode inserted in the brain according to the electric stimulation control signal And an electric stimulation generator.

The pain modulator may further include a neural signal analyzing unit for detecting a neural signal in the detected neural signal and predicting the degree of pain through analysis, and a neural signal analyzing unit for determining whether or not the pain is required to be controlled according to the pain level, And an electric stimulation control unit for generating an electric stimulation control signal.

Further, the neural signal analyzing unit is characterized by calculating at least one of the average of the multi-utterance potential intervals or the total of the neural cell pause periods before and after the multi-utterance.

In addition, the electric stimulation adjusting unit may be configured to adjust the electric stimulation for the pain control if the condition of the at least one of the multiple interictal potential intervals is equal to or greater than the first reference or the total of the pre- And outputs the electric stimulation control signal.

The first reference and the second reference are characterized by being 2.5 ms and 150 ms, respectively.

In addition, the pain modifier may further include a mode conversion unit for setting an electric stimulation control mode, an electric stimulation control update time, or an electric stimulation control time.

In addition, the electric stimulation control mode may be a mode in which a plurality of interictal spontaneous interval average modes, a multipath utterance neuron dormant period integration mode, or a combination of the multiple interictal potential interval average mode and a total sum of pre- Mode.

Further, the electric stimulation control update time and the electric stimulation control time may be changed according to a user input.

The electrical stimulation control signal may be a TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) signal of + 5V.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for treating pain, comprising the steps of measuring a nerve signal through an electrode inserted in a region of the brain that senses pain, detecting a multiple nerve signal in the nerve signal, Determining a need for pain control based on the result of the degree of pain prediction; and if necessary, adjusting the pain to be applied through an electrode inserted in a brain region for controlling the pain And controlling the electrical stimulation.

In addition, the pain level predicting step may calculate at least one of a multiple interictal potential interval average or a total sum of periods before and after a multi-utterance stimulation.

In addition, the step of determining whether or not the pain control is necessary may be determined by checking whether the condition variable of any one or more of the cases where the average of the multiple interictal potential intervals is equal to or greater than the first reference, .

In addition, the electric stimulation control step controls the electric stimulation generator by using a + 5V TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) signal as an electric stimulation control signal.

The present invention can measure a nerve signal in a patient's brain and analyze the measured nerve signal to check whether the patient feels pain. Therefore, the present invention can interpret the expression of the animal and the speech disabled person who can not express in the language through the analysis of the neural signal.

In addition, the present invention can reduce the process of determining the deep brain stimulation of a doctor or an expert by analyzing nerve signals and applying electrical stimulation to the brain when there is pain.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a pain treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of treating pain in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the process of detecting the multiple nerve signal shown in FIG. 2; FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a pain treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the apparatus for treating pain includes an electrode 10 for detecting a nerve signal, a neural signal detector 20, a pain controller 30, an electric stimulus generator 40, and an electrode 50 for electric stimulation. Here, the neural signal detector 20, the pain controller 30, and the electric stimulus generator 40 exchange data with each other through wired / wireless communication.

The nerve signal detecting electrode 10 is disposed in a specific region of the brain that senses the pain of a patient (e.g., a person, an animal, etc.). This nerve signal detecting electrode 10 includes at least one bipolar electrode needle (cathode needle and anode needle). The number of electrode needles can vary depending on the size of the brain region in which the neural signal is detected.

The nerve signal detecting electrode 10 is connected to the nerve signal detector 20 via an extension line.

The neural signal detector 20 measures the neural signal of the brain in real time through the electrode 10 for detecting the neural signal. The neural signal detector 20 may be implemented with a neurological instrument such as Neuronexus and Thomasrecording.

In addition, the neural signal detector 20 can measure a neural signal of the brain after an electrical stimulation is applied to the brain, thereby also feedbacking whether the symptom of the patient is improved due to electrical stimulation.

The pain modulator 30 analyzes the neural signals measured through the neural signal detector 20 to control electrical stimulation for pain control (relaxation). During the painful interval, the mean IntraBI (Mean IntraBI) increases and the sum of the pre - and post - stimulation periods decreases. Thus, the pain modulator 30 controls the electrical stimulation using the sum of the mean of the multiple interictal potential intervals and the sum of the periods before and after the multi-utterance as the condition variables. That is, the pain controller 30 instructs the electric stimulation when the average of the multiple interictal potential intervals is equal to or greater than the first reference (2.5 ms) and / or when the sum of the periods before and after the multiple stimulation is below the second reference.

The pain regulator 30 outputs an electrical stimulation control signal according to the degree of pain. At this time, the electrical stimulation control signal uses a TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) signal of 0V and + 5V.

The pain modulator 30 includes a neural signal analyzer 31, an electric stimulation controller 33, and a mode converter 35.

The neural signal analyzer 31 divides the neural signals measured through the neural signal detector 20 into two types of neural signals according to the utterance type. The firing pattern is divided into multiple bursts in which spikes are generated in a short time, and tonic firing patterns in a constant rule. In the present embodiment, there is no nerve signal firing for at least 100 ms, and continuous action potentials within 4 ms are defined as multiple. Other activity potentials are classified as single.

)의 기준값은 2.5ms이다.The mean value of the multiple interictal potential intervals is increased when the pain increases, and the average of the multiple interictal potential intervals is decreased when the pain is decreased. do. Multiple spontaneous dislocation interval mean (

) Is 2.5 ms.

는 는 i번째 다발성 발화(burst spike of burst number), N은 다발성 수(burst number),

는 발화 시간(spike time)(i는 다발성 수, j는 다발성 발화 수)이다.here,

Is the i th burst spike of burst number, N is the burst number,

Is a spike time (i is a multiple number, and j is a multiple ignition number).

There is a distinctive slience before and after multiple utterances, which vary in length depending on the degree of pain. The sum of the pauses before and after the multiple utterances is calculated to predict the degree of pain and generate a signal to control pain. The default adjustment of the value of the dormancy synthesis is 150ms.

There is a slience that occurs before and after multiple flashes, which varies in length depending on the degree of pain. The sum of the periods of neural cell rest periods before and after the multiple utterances is calculated to predict the degree of pain. The criterion for total dormancy period is 150ms.

The sum of pre-stimulation periods of pre-stimulation neurons is calculated using Equation (2).

는 다발성 발화의 발화 시간(spike time of burst spike)이고,

는 i번째 다발성 발화의 전발화 시간(pre spike time of i_th burst spike)이다.here,

Is the spike time of burst spike,

Is the pre-spike time of i-th burst spike.

The sum of post-silence periods of the neural cell after the multiple utterances is calculated by using Equation (3).

는 i번째 다발성 발화의 후발화 시간(post spike time of i_th burst spike)이다.here,

Is the post-spike time of i_th burst spike of the i-th polyphony.

The electrical stimulation control unit 33 generates an electrical stimulation control signal for controlling the pain according to the degree of pain predicted through the analysis of the neural signal of the neural signal analysis unit 31.

The mode conversion unit 35 converts the settings of the electric stimulation adjustment mode, the electric stimulation adjustment update time, the electric stimulation adjustment time and the like according to the user's input.

The electric stimulation control mode is classified into a mixed mode using a combination of the two modes, the average mode of the multi-utterance potential interval, the total duration of the neural cell pause period before and after the multi-utterance utterance. In order to determine whether the patient feels pain according to the set electric stimulation control mode, the pain control unit 30 uses at least one of the multiple interictal potential interval average and the total sum of the pre-stimulated neural cell rest periods.

The electric stimulation control update time is set to a default value of 5 minutes, and can be changed and set according to user input. The pain control unit 30 reaffirms the pain level every time the electric stimulation control is updated and generates an electric stimulation control signal according to the confirmed pain level.

The electrical stimulation control time is the time for generating the electrical stimulation control signal after the pain signal detection (interpreted as having pain), which corresponds to the time to apply electrical stimulation. The electric stimulation adjustment time is set to 60 minutes by default and can be changed by the user.

The electric stimulation generator 40 generates electric stimulation in accordance with an electric stimulation control signal (a pain control signal) output from the pain controller 30. That is, the electric stimulation generator 40 controls the intensity and duration of the electric stimulation according to the electric stimulation control signal.

The electrode 50 for electric stimulation is inserted into a specific region of the brain that regulates the pain. The electrode 50 for electric stimulation includes one or more bipolar electrode needles such as the electrode 10 for detecting a nerve signal. The number of electrode needles can vary depending on the size of the brain area requiring electrical stimulation. The electrode 50 for electric stimulation is connected to the electric stimulus generator 40 through an extension line.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of treating pain according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pain modulator 30 measures the nerve signal through the neural signal detector 20 (S11).

The pain modulator 30 detects a multiple nerve signal (multiple speech signal) among the measured nerve signals (S13).

The pain controller 30 analyzes the detected multiple nerve signals to predict the degree of pain (S15). The pain modulator 30 calculates the multiple interictal potential interval average and / or the total pre-neural cell dormancy period according to the electric stimulation control mode.

The pain controller 30 determines whether pain control is necessary based on the predicted pain level (S17). The pain modulator 30 requires pain control when the mean of multiple interictal potential intervals is greater than a first criterion (e.g., 2.5 ms) and / or the sum of periods before and after multiple stimuli is below a second criterion (e.g., 150 ms) .

The pain controller 30 controls the electrical stimulation applied to the brain by transmitting an electrical stimulation control signal to the electrical stimulation generator 40 according to the predicted degree of pain when the pain control is required (S19). The electrical stimulation generator 40 applies electrical stimulation to the brain region through an electrical stimulation electrode 50 disposed at the brain region that regulates pain. Thus, by applying electrical stimulation to the area of the brain that regulates the pain, the pain of the patient is reduced and the pain can be treated.

3 is a flowchart showing the method of detecting the multiple nerve signal shown in FIG.

The pain controller 30 basically operates in a single-action speech mode at the beginning of operation and detects a spike nerve signal (S131, S132). At this time, the neural signal detector 20 monitors the activity potential of the neuron in the brain and monitors the activity potential. When the neural signal is generated, the neural signal detector 20 detects the neural signal, including the generation time, the maximum size and the minimum size, And transmits information about the signal to the pain controller 30.

The pain controller 30 detects a firing neural signal and confirms whether it is a single firing mode (S133).

The pain controller 30 checks whether or not a firing neural signal is detected twice or more if the terminal is in the terminal speech mode (S134). At this time, the pain controller 30 waits until a new firing neural signal is detected because it can not analyze the multiple firing neural signal activity when the firing neural signal occurs less than two times.

In step S135, the pain controller 30 checks whether the time difference between the detected speech signal and the previous speech signal is 100 ms or more when the speech signal is detected twice or more.

The pain controller 30 switches to the multiple speech mode when the time difference between the detected speech signal and the previous speech signal exceeds 100 ms (S136). Then, the pain controller 30 deletes information on the previous firing neural signal stored in the buffer.

If it is determined in step S133 that the single-shot ignition mode is not selected, it is checked whether the ignition neural signal is detected twice or more (S137).

In step S138, the pain controller 30 checks whether the time difference between the detected speech signal and the previous speech signal is less than 4 ms.

If the detected time difference between the detected speech signal and the previous speech signal is less than 4 ms, the pain controller 30 stores the detected speech signal into the buffer as multiple speech data at step S139. Multiple stimulus data are used to predict the degree of pain with multiple neural signals.

On the other hand, the pain controller 30 switches to the one-shot speech mode when the time difference between the detected speech signal and the previous speech signal exceeds 4 ms (reference). And then, the pain modulator 30 deletes information on the previous firing neural signal stored in the buffer.

10: Electrode for nerve signal detection
20: Neural signal detector
30: Pain regulator
31: Neural Signal Analysis Unit
33: Electrical Stimulation Regulator
35: Mode conversion section
40: electric stimulus generator
50: Electrode for electric stimulation

Claims (13)

A neural signal detector for detecting a neural signal using an electrode for detecting a neural signal inserted in the brain,
A pain modulator for analyzing the neural signal detected through the neural signal detector to predict the degree of pain and output an electric stimulation control signal according to the predicted degree of pain;
And an electric stimulation generator for applying an electric stimulus through an electric stimulation electrode inserted in the brain according to the electric stimulation control signal,
The pain modulator comprises:
A neural signal analyzer for detecting a neural signal in the detected neural signal and estimating the degree of pain through analysis and calculating at least one of a mean value of a plurality of interictal potential intervals or a sum of periods of a neural cell inactivity before and after a multi-
And an electric stimulation control unit for determining whether or not the pain control is necessary according to the degree of pain and generating an electric stimulation control signal according to the determination.
delete delete The method according to claim 1,
The electric stimulation controller may include:
When the condition of the at least one of the multiple interictal potential intervals is equal to or greater than the first reference or when the sum of the periods before and after the multiple stimulation is equal to or less than the second criterion is satisfied, Wherein the pain treatment device comprises:
5. The method of claim 4,
The first and second criteria may include:
Respectively, of 2.5 ms and 150 ms, respectively.
The method according to claim 1,
The pain modulator comprises:
An electric stimulation adjusting mode, an electric stimulation adjusting time, or an electric stimulation adjusting time.
The method according to claim 6,
The electric stimulation control mode includes:
A mixed mode in which a plurality of interictal potential interval average modes, a multipath utterance neuron dormancy period total mode, or a combination of the multiple interictal potential interval average mode and a multipoint utterance neuron dormancy total mode mode is classified into a mixed mode Treatment device.
The method according to claim 6,
The electric stimulation control update time and the electric stimulation control time may be,
And is changed according to user input.
The method according to claim 1,
The electrical stimulation control signal may comprise:
And a TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) signal of +5 V is used.
Measuring a nerve signal through an electrode inserted in a region of the brain that senses pain,
Detecting a multiple nerve signal in the nerve signal,
Analyzing the multiple nerve signals to predict the degree of pain;
Determining whether pain control is necessary based on the predicted pain level;
Controlling the electrical stimulation applied through the electrode inserted in the brain region for controlling the pain when the pain control is required,
Wherein the pain degree predicting step calculates at least one of a multiple interictal potential interval average or a total sum of periods before and after the multiple utterance.
delete 11. The method of claim 10,
The method of claim 1,
Determining whether the condition variable satisfies any one or more of the following conditions: the average of the interictal spontaneous dislocation intervals is equal to or greater than a first reference; and the case where the sum of the periods before and after the spontaneous utterance is equal to or less than a second criterion is satisfied.
11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the electrical stimulation adjustment step comprises:
Wherein the electrical stimulation generator is controlled using a TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) signal of + 5V as an electrical stimulation control signal.

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