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EP-4736179-A1 - NEUROSTIMULATION DEVICE POSITIONING METHOD AND SYSTEM

EP4736179A1EP 4736179 A1EP4736179 A1EP 4736179A1EP-4736179-A1

Abstract

A system is provided for determining a target neurostimulation device position. The system comprises: one or more cameras arranged to capture one or more images of a body part of a subject; a neurostimulation device arranged to provide a neurostimulation to the body part of the subject; and a computer comprising a processor and a computer-readable medium arranged to: receive the one or more images from the one or more cameras; determine, by the processor using computer vision to process the one or more images, a three-dimensional (3D) target neurostimulation device position located relative to the body part of the subject; wherein the target neurostimulation device position comprises a 3D translational position metric indicating an area of operation of the neurostimulation device located relative to the body part of the subject. The described system aims to provide a non-invasive manner of providing neurostimulation which reduces the complexity of resources required, the time taken and the level of skill required, while providing a greater level of consistency of treatment provided.

Inventors

  • KRINKE, LOTHAR
  • GRANSTROM, Eric

Assignees

  • The Magstim Company Limited

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240625

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A system for determining a target neurostimulation device position, the system comprising: one or more cameras arranged to capture one or more images of a body part of a subject; a neurostimulation device arranged to provide a neurostimulation to the body part of the subject; and a computer comprising a processor and a computer-readable medium arranged to: receive the one or more images from the one or more cameras; determine, by the processor using computer vision to process the one or more images, a three-dimensional (3D) target neurostimulation device position located relative to the body part of the subject; wherein the target neurostimulation device position comprises a 3D translational position metric indicating an area of operation of the neurostimulation device located relative to the body part of the subject.
  2. 2. A system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target neurostimulation device position further comprises a 3D rotational position metric indicating an orientation of the neurostimulation device relative to the body part.
  3. 3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the body part is a head.
  4. 4. A system as claimed in claim 1 , claim 2 or claim 3, comprising a first said camera and a second said camera; wherein the first camera is positioned to capture a first said image at a first angle relative to the body part of the subject; and wherein the second is positioned to capture a second said image at a second angle relative to the body part of the subject.
  5. 5. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the one or more images is a visible light image.
  6. 6. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the neurostimulation device is one selected from: a transcranial magnetic stimulation device; a transcranial electric stimulation device; a peripheral magnetic stimulation device; a peripheral electric stimulation device; a low intensity focused ultrasound stimulation device; an infrared optical stimulation device
  7. 7. A computer-implemented method for determining a target neurostimulation device position, the method comprising: receiving one or more images in a computer comprising a processor and a computer-readable medium, the one or more images depicting a body part of a subject; and determining, by the processor using computer vision to process the one or more images, a three-dimensional (3D) target neurostimulation device position located relative to the body part of the subject; wherein the target neurostimulation device position comprises a 3D translational position metric indicating an area of operation of the neurostimulation device located relative to the body part of the subject.
  8. 8. A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the target neurostimulation device position further comprises a 3D rotational position metric indicating an orientation of the neurostimulation device relative to the body part.
  9. 9. A system as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the body part is a head.
  10. 10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the one or more images comprises a first image depicting at least a portion of a first temple of the subject, and a second image depicting at least a portion of the second temple of the subject.
  11. 11. A method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the at least one image is a visible light image.
  12. 12. A method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 11 , wherein the method further comprises: positioning the neurostimulation device at the target neurostimulation device position.
  13. 13. A method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 12, wherein the method further comprises: determining that the neurostimulation device is at the target neurostimulation device position.
  14. 14. A method as claimed in any one of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises either: i. receiving, by the processor, a target neurostimulation protocol, or ii. determining, by the processor using computer vision to process the one or more images, a target neurostimulation protocol.
  15. 15. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the method further comprises: after determining that the neurostimulation device is at the target neurostimulation device position, configuring, by the processor, the neurostimulation device for applying the target treatment protocol.
  16. 16. A method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 15, wherein the method further comprises: instructing, by the processor, one or more cameras to obtain the one or more images.
  17. 17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the one or more cameras comprise image sensors arranged to obtain visible light images.
  18. 18. A method as claimed in claim 16 or claim 17, wherein the one or more cameras comprises at least two cameras.
  19. 19. A method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 18, wherein the method further comprises: storing the one or more images on the computer readable medium.
  20. 20. A method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 19, wherein the method further comprises: outputting, by the processor to a display of the computer, the target neurostimulation device position.

Description

NEUROSTIMULATION DEVICE POSITIONING METHOD AND SYSTEM Field of the Disclosure The present disclosure relates to a system and method for determining an optimal position for a neurostimulation device and particularly relates to making use of computer vision for optimally positioning a neurostimulation device. Background to the Disclosure Neuromonitoring and neurostimulation are limited by tools and methods to determine physical locations either of biological reference points on a subject, or of relevant signals in a tissue region. Contemporary forms of neurostimulation typically require numerous extensive clinical sessions, the availability of which is determined in accordance with the availability of a small number of highly experienced and skilled practitioners. Such sessions are often lengthy and invasive, and typically begin with the precise determination of a target site for application of neurostimulation, which differs according to an individual subject’s anatomy. Such determinations depend on a skilled but subjective judgement of the practitioner and therefore treatment can often lack consistency of quality, and as yet methods have been unable to tackle this lack of consistency. Procedures additionally make extensive use of marker technology which can be unwieldy and uncomfortable, and additionally continues to rely on the proficiency of the practitioners placing the markers. It is therefore desirable to provide a neurostimulation technique which overcomes these drawbacks, and in particular which provides a simple, minimally invasive procedure with improved accuracy, precision and consistency which does not require use by skilled personnel. Summary of the Disclosure The present disclosure is directed to a neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device positioning system and method including receiving images of a body part of a subject from one or more cameras and determining, by processing the one or more images using computer vision, a target location in space on or proximate the body part for positioning the neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device. The target position preferably includes information relating to both a 3D translational state of the neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device, together with a 3D rotational state of the neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device, based on properties of the user’s head read by the computer vision. The computer vision preferably infers said properties based on visual light images of the user’s body part alone in a markerless fashion. In most preferable embodiments, a trained machine learning architecture is used to determine the target neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device position, such that a simple, consistent and minimally invasive neurostimulation or neuromonitoring approach is provided which requires minimal to no pre-treatment calibration and minimises the skills required from a clinician. Additionally, the present disclosure intends to eliminate or reduce any source of error in alignment which may be caused by a movement or otherwise of the subject, unrelated to the actions of the clinician. As such, the present system may in some embodiments permit the imaging of a body part of a subject for determining a target neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device position for output to a user. The user may, using the output, place the neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device at the target position, without the need for extensive and sometimes invasive, prepositioning checks common to current methods. The target neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device position may be associated with a known neurostimulation or neuromonitoring device position associated with a particular desired neurostimulation or neuromonitoring protocol, but tailored to a subject’s particular body part dimensions. Thereby a personalised and consistent approach is provided. The present disclosure will now be discussed in relation to a neurostimulation device, but embodiments will be appreciated wherein the term “neurostimulation device” may be substituted with “neuromonitoring device”. In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a system for determining a target neurostimulation device position, the system comprising: one or more cameras arranged to capture one or more images of a body part of a subject; a neurostimulation device arranged to provide a neurostimulation to the body part of the subject; and a computer comprising a processor and a computer-readable medium arranged to: receive the one or more images from the one or more cameras; determine, by the processor using computer vision to process the one or more images, a three-dimensional (3D) target neurostimulation device position located relative to the body part of the subject; wherein the target neurostimulation device position comprises a 3D translational position metric indicating an area of operation of the neurostimulation device located relative to the body part of the subject