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US-12616833-B2 - Medical treatment device and method for stimulating neurons of a patent to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity thereof

US12616833B2US 12616833 B2US12616833 B2US 12616833B2US-12616833-B2

Abstract

The present invention pertains to a medical treatment device ( 10 ) for stimulating neurons of a patient to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity of the neurons. The device ( 10 ) comprises a non-invasive stimulation unit ( 12 ) configured for simultaneously administering at least one acoustic stimulus and at least one non-acoustic stimulus to a patient's body, each of which is configured to suppress the pathologically synchronous activity when being administered to the patient's body.

Inventors

  • Peter Alexander Tass

Assignees

  • GRETAP AG

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20210303

Claims (10)

  1. 1 . A medical treatment device for stimulating neurons of a patient to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity of the neurons, comprising a non-invasive stimulation unit configured for simultaneously administering at least one acoustic stimulus and at least one non-acoustic stimulus to a patient's body, each of which is configured to suppress the pathologically synchronous activity when being administered to the patient's body, wherein the stimulation unit comprises a vibrotactile stimulating element which is configured to oscillatingly or periodically act onto a surface of the patient's body so as to simultaneously administer the non-acoustic stimulus and the acoustic stimulus to the patient's body, wherein the stimulation unit is configured to simultaneously generate the acoustic stimulus and the non-acoustic stimulus upon oscillatingly or periodically actuating the vibrotactile stimulating element, wherein when being administered to the patient's body, the acoustic stimulus is configured to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity of a first neuronal population, in particular in at least one of a patient's brain or spinal cord, and the non-acoustic stimulus is configured to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity of a second neuronal population, in particular in at least one of a patient's brain or spinal cord, which is different or delimited from the first neuronal population.
  2. 2 . The medical treatment device according to claim 1 , which is configured to be fastened to a patient's head, wherein in a fastened state of the medical treatment device in which it is fastened to the patient's head, the stimulating unit is configured to provide the acoustic stimulus to a patient's ear and the non-acoustic stimulus to a patient's skin in a region of a forehead of the patient, in particular a first branch of a trigeminal nerve, or occiput, in particular a C 2 or C 3 dermatome.
  3. 3 . The medical treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-acoustic stimulus is a vibrotactile stimulus.
  4. 4 . The medical treatment device according to any one of claim 1 , wherein each one of the at least one acoustic stimulus is associated to one non-acoustic stimulus, and wherein the stimulation unit is configured to simultaneously generate one non-acoustic stimulus together with its associated acoustic stimulus.
  5. 5 . The medical treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the vibrotactile stimulating element is actuated at an actuation frequency in a range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz, in particular from 20 Hz to 250 Hz or from 200 Hz to 600 Hz.
  6. 6 . The medical treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the stimulation unit comprises at least two vibrotactile stimulating elements, each of which is configured to generate one of at least two non-acoustic stimuli, and wherein the stimulation unit is configured to operate the at least two stimulating elements at different actuation frequencies.
  7. 7 . The medical treatment device according to claim 6 , wherein the actuation frequencies, at which stimulating elements are to be actuated, are adjusted to a music scale, in particular a pentatonic scale.
  8. 8 . The medical treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the stimulation unit is provided with a set of different actuation frequencies including frequencies at which the stimulating element is to be actuated, and wherein the set of different actuation frequencies comprises a first actuating frequency and at least one further actuating frequency which is determined in dependence on or correlates to the first actuating frequency.
  9. 9 . The medical treatment device according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one further actuating frequency of the set of different actuation frequencies correlates to the first actuating frequency according to at least one of the following equations: v 2 =v 1 * 9/8, v 3 =v 1 * 5/4, v 4 =v 1 * 3/2, v 5 =v 1 * 5/3, v 6 =v 1 *2 k , v 7 =v 1 *2 k * 9/8, v 8 =v 1 *2 k * 5/4, v 9 =v 1 *2 k * 3/2, and v 10 =v 1 *2 k * 5/3, wherein v 1 refers to the first actuating frequency; each one of v 2 to v 10 refers to the at least one further actuating frequency; and k refers to a natural number equal to or greater than 2.
  10. 10 . The medical treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein the stimulation unit comprises a plurality of vibrotactile stimulating elements, wherein each of the stimulating elements is configured to oscillatingly or periodically act onto a surface of the patient's body so as to simultaneously administer non-acoustic stimulus and acoustic stimulus to the patient's body.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a U.S. national phase filing under 35 U.S.C. 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2021/055278, filed Mar. 3, 2021, which claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/984,454 filed Mar. 3, 2020, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a medical treatment device and a respective method for stimulating neurons of a patient to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity of the neurons. TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND Several brain disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, are characterized by abnormally strong synchronous activity of neurons, i.e. strongly synchronized neuronal firing or bursting. Besides Parkinson's disease, this may also apply, for example, to essential tremor, dystonia, dysfunction after stroke, epilepsy, depression, migraine, tension headache, obsessive-compulsive disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain syndromes, pelvic pain, dissociation in borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. The pharmacological treatment for Parkinson's disease with, for example, L-DOPA may have limited therapeutic effects and it may cause significant long-term side effects. High-frequency Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease is a standard for medically refractory patients in advanced stages of Parkinson's disease. However, DBS requires surgical procedures associated with a significant risk. For instance, depth electrode implantation in dedicated target areas in the brain may cause bleedings. Furthermore, standard continuous high-frequency DBS may cause side effects. Further, non-invasive vibrotactile stimulation treatments are known to counteract Parkinsonian signs, which may be applied to a head region of a patient. By doing so, vibrotactile stimulations are administered to an outer surface of the patient's head so as to generate vibrotactile stimuli which aim on affecting a pathological activity of a patient's neuronal population, in particular in a patient's brain or spinal cord. Such techniques are known as coordinated reset stimulation which allow for counteracting abnormal synchrony of the neuronal population by desynchronization. Typically, for generating the vibrotactile stimuli, vibrotactile stimulation elements fastened to the patient's head are employed and actuated. Typically, upon actuating the vibrotactile stimulation elements, in addition to vibrotactile stimuli, also acoustic stimuli are perceived by the patient. This is caused by sound waves generated upon actuation of the stimulation elements which are conducted to the patient's inner ear through air and bone conduction. However, these acoustic stimuli constitute undesired side effects which are usually experienced as annoying and unpleasant by the patient, thereby reducing compliance. This particularly applies when the treatment is employed frequently, e.g. for long hours every day during weeks or months. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Starting from the prior art, it is an objective to provide an improved non-invasive medical treatment device and a respective method enabling to effectively suppress pathologically synchronous activities of a patient's neuronal population. This object is solved by means of a medical treatment device and a method according to the independent claims. Preferred embodiments are set forth in the present specification, Figures as well as the dependent claims. Accordingly, a medical treatment device is provided for stimulating neurons of a patient to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity of the neurons. The medical treatment device comprises a non-invasive stimulation unit configured for simultaneously administering at least one acoustic stimulus and at least one non-acoustic stimulus to a patient's body, each of which is configured to suppress the pathologically synchronous activity when being administered to the patient's body. Furthermore, a medical treatment method for stimulating neurons of a patient to suppress a pathologically synchronous activity of the neurons is provided. The method comprises the step of non-invasively and simultaneously administer at least one acoustic stimulus and at least one non-acoustic stimulus to a patient's body, each of which is configured to suppress the pathologically synchronous activity. The proposed method refers to method features corresponding to those features defined in connection with the medical treatment device. Thus, technical features which are defined in the present disclosure in connection with the medical treatment device may also relate and be applied to the proposed method, and vice versa. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present disclosure will be more readily appreciated by reference to the following detailed description when being considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic illustra