Surgery: light – thermal – and electrical application – Light – thermal – and electrical application – Electrical therapeutic systems
Patent
1999-05-21
2000-09-26
Jastrzab, Jeffrey R.
Surgery: light, thermal, and electrical application
Light, thermal, and electrical application
Electrical therapeutic systems
A61N 132
Patent
active
061253014
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention provides a method for the prophylaxis and treatment of allergies.
Transcranial electrotherapy (TCET) is the application of a series of electrical signals of defined amplitude and duration across the head of a patient or test animal by means of percutaneous electrodes generally attached to the external pinnae. TCET is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,744 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,401, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto.
A preferred method of applying TCET and preferred signal characteristics are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,401, in which means are disclosed to enable the administration to patients of very low current signals which are sub-perception. Such sub-perception treatment has come to be known a Sub-Perception Electrostimulation (SPES).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,401 discloses various applications of TCET, including pain amelioration, amelioration of drug withdrawal and amelioration of the effects of stress. However, neither U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,401 nor any other prior publication of the use of TCET either discloses or suggests that TCET might be useful in the prophylaxis and treatment of allergies.
We have now made the surprising discovery that TCET can be used in the prophylaxis and treatment of allergies, especially allergic respiratory conditions.
Thus, according to the present invention there is provided a pulsed electric signal having an operating positive amplitude of from 10 to 15 .mu.A for use in the provision of a regime of transcranial electrotherapy for the prophylaxis and treatment of allergies.
There is also provided a method for the prophylaxis and treatment of allergies using transcranial electrotherapy wherein a pulsed electric signal having an operating positive amplitude of from 10 to 15 .mu.A is applied across the head of a human or other animal.
The invention is particularly useful in the treatment of allergic asthma, hayfever, allergic rhinitis, rhinoconjunctivitis and food allergies.
As in the use of TCET for treating pain, drug withdrawal and the effects of stress which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,401, trains of pulses (i.e. packets of pulses separated by short pauses in relatively short sequences) are used. The signal is preferably an AC signal in which the positive pulse is relatively short and high without being spiked and the following negative pulse is relatively wide and low, the total amount of positive and negative charge being balanced. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the negative pulse has approximately 5-10 times longer duration than the positive pulse.
Patients are typically treated with TCET signals at a frequency of from 9 to 13 Hz, e.g. a frequency of 10 Hz is particularly preferred. Typical trains suitable for use in the present invention contain packets of from 700 to 1000 pulses separated by pauses of from 9 to 11 seconds. e.g. packets of 750 or 1000 pulses (i.e. packets of 75 or 100 seconds in duration), separated by pauses of 10 seconds. The TCET signal may typically be administered in trains of from 28 to 42 complete cycles, e.g. 37 cycles.
Where an AC signal is used, individual signal pulses typically may have a positive duration of about 1.8 to 2.4 msec, e.g. 2.0 msec.
It is essential that the operating positive amplitude of the signal should be 10 to 15 .mu.A, e.g. about 10-12 .mu.A. This means that sufficient potential difference should be applied between the two electrodes so that the final positive amplitude of the signal delivered is, for example, 11 .mu.A, regardless of the impedance of the patient receiving the electrical current. The amplitude of the negative portion of the applied signal is typically <14% of the positive amplitude.
The low-current signals are preferably applied via needle point electrodes similar to those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,401. These point electrodes provide a low impedance when attached to the external pinnae of the patient to be treated.
Studies using pulsed electric signals having an operating positive amplitude of from 10 to 15 .mu.A in the use of
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Jastrzab Jeffrey R.
SPES Patents Limited
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