Device and Method for Effective Invasive Desynchronizing Neurostimulation

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This invention relates to a medical device and method for treating disorders characterized by abnormal synchronous and oscillatory neuron activity in the brain or spinal cord, such as Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and other neuropsychiatric conditions. The system includes an implantable stimulation unit that delivers electrical and/or optical signals to selected neurons. It is monitored and controlled by an analysis unit that adjusts the stimulation based on real-time feedback from neuronal activity measurements. A key innovation is the adaptive insertion or extension of 'stimulation breaks' (pauses with no stimulation) when the desired desynchronization effect is insufficient, ultimately allowing for long-lasting therapeutic results with reduced stimulation intensity and side effects.

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• Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease patients who do not respond sufficiently to medication.
• Treatment of epilepsy through neural desynchronization when standard interventions are ineffective.
• Alleviation of movement disorders, dystonia, or tremor (including essential tremor or multiple sclerosis-related tremor).
• Adjunct therapy for psychiatric conditions like depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or Tourette's syndrome by modulating brain network activity.
• Control of chronic pain syndromes via targeted spinal cord or brain stimulation.
• Management of neurological disorders like tinnitus, autism, Alzheimer's disease, and migraines that are linked to abnormal neural synchronization.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Allows effective neural modulation at lower stimulation intensities, reducing potential side effects and energy consumption.
• Provides long-lasting therapeutic effects compared to traditional continuous stimulation techniques.
• Can adaptively adjust stimulation and pause durations based on real-time monitoring of neural activity, personalizing treatment.
• Possibility to salvage suboptimally placed electrodes by optimizing stimulation timing instead of requiring re-implantation procedures.
• Minimizes risk of tissue damage or adverse effects from overstimulation.
• Applicable to a broad spectrum of neurological and psychiatric disorders marked by abnormal neuronal synchronization.

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Patent Abstract

The invention relates to a device for suppressing a pathological synchronous and oscillatory neuron activity, comprising: a non-invasive stimulation unit, which can be implanted in the body of a patient, for stimulation, by way of electrical and/or optical stimuli, of neurons in the brain and/or spinal cord of the patient, said neurons showing pathologically synchronous and oscillatory neuron activity, and those stimuli being meant to suppress the pathological synchronous and oscillatory neuron activity when administered to the patient; a measuring unit for recording measurement signals reflecting the neuron activity of the stimulated neurons; and a control and analysis unit for controlling the stimulation unit and for analyzing the measurement signals. Said control and analysis unit is configured in such a way that it controls the stimulation unit such that the stimulation unit administers stimuli, checks the success of stimulation on the basis of the measurement signals recorded in response to the application of the stimuli, and, if the stimulation success is not sufficient, inserts one or more stimulation breaks in the application of the stimuli or extends one or more stimulation breaks, no stimuli which could suppress the pathological synchronous and oscillatory neuron activity being applied during the stimulation breaks.