Surgery – Magnetic field applied to body for therapy – Electromagnetic coil
Patent
1999-03-15
2000-10-17
Lacyk, John P.
Surgery
Magnetic field applied to body for therapy
Electromagnetic coil
600 15, A61N 200, A61B 1752
Patent
active
061323616
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for transcranial magnetic brain stimulation. The invention also relates to methods for localizing and characterizing speech arrest, and for treatment of depression using transcranial magnetic stimulation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Magnetic stimulation of neurons has been heavily investigated over the last decade. Almost all magnetic stimulation work has been done in vivo. The bulk of the magnetic stimulation work has been in the area of brain stimulation.
Cohen has been a rather large contributor to this field of research (See e.g., T. Kujirai, M. Sato, J. Rothwell, and L. G. Cohen, "The Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Median Nerve Somatosensory Evoked Potentials", Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology and Electro Encephalography, Vol. 89, No. 4, 1993, pps. 227-234, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference.) This work has been accompanied by various other research efforts including that of Davey, et al. and that of Epstein (See, K. R. Davey, C. H. Cheng, C. M. Epstein "An Alloy--Core Electromagnet for Transcranial Brain Stimulation", Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, Volume 6, Number 4, 1989; and, Charles Epstein, Daniel Schwartzberg, Kent Davey, and David Sudderth, "Localizing the Site of Magnetic Brain Stimulation in Humans", Neurology, Volume 40, April 1990, pps. 666-670, the disclosures of which are fully incorporated herein by reference).
Generally, the magnetic stimulation research has used air type coils in their stimulators. These coils are so named due to the fact that they lack a magnetic core. A well known producer of such coils is Cadwell, which produces a variety of different models. One of the goals of the present inventors has been to provide magnetic stimulator devices for use in a variety of applications, which are improvements over the devices previously used in the art. In our prior pending patent application, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/345,572, filed Nov. 28, 1994, which is the parent to the present application (the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference), a variety of such devices were disclosed for the use in peripheral nerve stimulation. Accordingly, it is an object of the present inventors herein to provide further devices for use in central nervous system stimulation in general, and transcranial brain stimulation in particular.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is known to non-invasively alter the function of the cerebral cortex. (See e.g., George M S, Wassermann E M, Post R M, Transcranial magnetic stimulation: A neuropsychiatric tool for the 21st century, J. Neuropsychiatry, 1996; 8: 373-382, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference). The magnetic fields used are generally generated by large, rapidly-changing currents passing through a wire coil on the scalp. Two recent studies have suggested that rapid rate transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may be used for exploring the functional neuroanatomy of emotions: healthy volunteers who received left pre-frontal stimulation reported an increase in self-rated sadness, while, in contrast, right pre-frontal stimulation caused an increase in happiness. (See, Pascual-Leone A., Catala M D, Pascual A P, Lateralized effect of rapid rate transcranial magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex on mood, Neurology, 1996; 46: 499-502; and, George M S, Wasserman E M, Williams W., et al., Changes in mood and hormone levels after rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 1996; 8: 172-180, the disclosures of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.)
Other reports have begun to delineate the therapeutic use of rTMS in depression. The earliest such studies used round, non-focal coils centered at the cranial vertex, with stimulation rates well under 1 Hertz (Hz). Results were promising but not always statistically significant. (See, Hoflich G., Kasper S. Hufnagel A. et al., Application of transcranial ma
REFERENCES:
patent: 4940453 (1990-07-01), Cadwell
patent: 5116304 (1992-05-01), Cadwell
patent: 5441495 (1995-08-01), Liboff et al.
Davey Kent R.
Epstein Charles M.
Emory University
Lacyk John P.
Neotonus, Inc.
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