Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Stimulation System (stimulation + system)
Selected AbstractsElectrical Stimulation of the Hippocampal Epileptic Foci for Seizure Control: A Double-Blind, Long-Term Follow-Up StudyEPILEPSIA, Issue 10 2007Ana Luisa Velasco Summary:,Purpose: Our aim was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of electrical stimulation of the hippocampus in a long-term follow-up study, as well as its impact on memory performance in the treatment of patients with refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Methods: Nine patients were included. All had refractory partial complex seizures, some with secondary generalizations. All patients had a 3-month-baseline-seizure count, after which they underwent bilateral hippocampal diagnostic electrode implantation to establish focus laterality and location. Three patients had bilateral, and six, unilateral foci. Diagnostic electrodes were explanted and definitive Medtronic electrodes were implanted directed into the hippocampal foci. Position was confirmed with MRI and afterwards, the deep brain stimulation system internalized. Patients signed the informed consent approved by the Hospital's Ethics Committee and began a double-blind stimulation protocol. Patients attended a medical appointment every 3 months for seizure diary collection, deep brain stimulation system checkup, and neuropsychological testing. Results: Follow-up ranged from 18 months to 7 years. Patients were divided in two groups: five had normal MRIs and seizure reduction of >95%, while four had hippocampal sclerosis and seizure reduction of 50,70%. No patient had neuropsychological deterioration, nor did any patient show side effects. Three patients were explanted after 2 years due to skin erosion in the trajectory of the system. Conclusions: Electrical stimulation of the hippocampus provides a nonlesional method that improves seizure outcome without memory deterioration in patients with hippocampal epileptic foci. [source] Intraoperative Assessment of an Implantable Electrode Array for Cavernous Nerve StimulationTHE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 8 2008Arthur L. Burnett ABSTRACT Introduction., Erectile dysfunction remains a major functional complication of radical prostatectomy in the modern era despite surgical techniques to preserve the penile autonomic nerve supply. Aim., To develop and evaluate a neurostimulation system for cavernous nerve electrical stimulation for future use as a chronic implantation device that neurotrophically promotes erectile function recovery following radical prostatectomy. Method., After radical retropubic prostatectomy, the neurovascular bundle was stimulated using a temporarily placed electrode array of an implantable neurostimulation system (20 Hz frequency, 260 µ seconds pulse width, 5 mA,60 mA amplitude up to 10 minutes), and penile circumference increases were measured. Main Outcome Measure., Increase in penile circumference. Results., Among 12 men (mean age 60.3 years) enrolled in this study, 6 (50%) demonstrated measurable increases in penile circumference in response to cavernous nerve stimulation. Among these six men, the mean increase was 5.0 mm (range 1.6 mm to 7.0 mm). Temporary surgical placement of the device was done with relative ease, and there was no evidence of injury to the neurovascular bundle. Conclusions., A chronic implantable nerve stimulation system for cavernous nerve stimulation having possible neuromodulatory effects on the recovery of penile erections after radical prostatectomy is feasible. Burnett AL, Teloken PE, Briganti A, Whitehurst T, and Montorsi F. Intraoperative assessment of an implantable electrode array for cavernous nerve stimulation. J Sex Med 2008;5:1949,1954. [source] The effect of spinal cord stimulation in patients with chronic reflex sympathetic dystrophy: Two years' follow-up of the randomized controlled trialANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 1 2004Marius A. Kemler MD Chronic reflex sympathetic dystrophy is a painful, disabling disorder for which no treatment with proven effect is available. We performed a randomized trial in a 2 to 1 ratio of patients, in which 36 patients were treated with spinal cord stimulation and physical therapy (SCS+PT), and 18 patients received solely PT. Twenty-four SCS+PT patients were given a permanent spinal cord stimulation system after successful test stimulation; the remaining 12 patients received no permanent system. We assessed pain intensity, global perceived effect, functional status, and health-related quality of life. Patients were examined before randomization, before implantation, and also at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months thereafter. At 2 years, three patients were excluded from the analysis. The intention-to-treat analysis showed improvements in the SCS+PT group concerning pain intensity (,2.1 vs 0.0cm; p < 0.001) and global perceived effect (43% vs 6% "much improved"; p = 0.001). There was no clinically important improvement of functional status. Health-related quality of life improved only in the group receiving spinal cord stimulation. After careful selection and successful test stimulation, spinal cord stimulation results in a long-term pain reduction and health-related quality of life improvement in chronic reflex sympathetic dystrophy. [source] Lumbar Stimulation Belt for Therapy of Low-Back PainARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 1 2009Dejan B. Popovi Abstract We developed the STIMBELT, an electrical stimulation system that comprises a lumbar belt with up to eight pairs of embedded electrodes and an eight-channel electronic stimulator. The STIMBELT is an assistive system for the treatment of low-back pain (LBP). We describe here technical details of the system and summarize the results of its application in individuals with subacute and chronic LBP. The direct goals of the treatment were to relieve pain, reduce muscle spasms, increase strength and range of motion, and educate individuals with LBP in reducing the chances of its reoccurrence. The outcome measures include: a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), the Oswestry LBP Disability Questionnaire, the Short Form (SF)-12 health survey, and the Manual Muscle Test. The results indicate significant benefits for individuals who use the STIMBELT in addition to the conventional therapy as opposed to only the conventional therapy. [source] Electric acoustic stimulation of the auditory system: experience and results of ten patients using MED-EL's M and FlexEAS electrodesCLINICAL OTOLARYNGOLOGY, Issue 3 2010A. Lee Clin. Otolaryngol. 2010, 35, 190,197 Objective:, To evaluate the hearing preservation rate and speech perception scores in patients with profound high frequency hearing loss and acoustically aidable low frequency hearing, managed with the MED-EL electric acoustic stimulation system referenced to the insertion depth of the electrode array. Study design:, Retrospective data analysis. Participants and setting:, Ten patients implanted at the Auditory Implant Centre, Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital, London, UK. Main outcome measures:, Pure tone audiometry, speech perception tests and electrode insertion depth angle. Results:, Postoperatively, functional hearing preservation allowing electric acoustic stimulation was achieved in eight patients and total preservation of residual hearing in five patients with follow-up periods of more than 12 months. Three of four (75%) patients with an insertion depth of >360° had a threshold shift of >25 dB, and all four patients had a threshold shift of >10 dB. All patients with total hearing preservation had the electrode inserted up to 360° at maximum. Overall, speech perception outcomes increased significantly and hearing impairment was significantly reduced after electric acoustic stimulation or electric stimulation alone as compared with the preoperative scores. Conclusion:, Electric acoustic stimulation provides significant benefit to individuals with profound high frequency hearing loss. Studies with larger number of patients are needed to establish the optimal electrode insertion angle as well as to further analyse the benefit of electric acoustic stimulation. [source] A Review of Electrical Stimulation to Treat Motility Dysfunctions in the Digestive Tract: Effects and Stimulation PatternsNEUROMODULATION, Issue 2 2007Cristian Sevcencu PhD ABSTRACT Electrical stimulation of the digestive organs may become a valuable alternative to pharmaceutical and surgical approaches to the treatment of gastrointestinal motor dysfunctions. For more than 40 years, encouraging results with electrical stimulation to activate motility in gastrointestinal organs have been published. The most significant achievements with this work have been either stimulation to attenuate the symptoms of gastroparesis or stimulation to modify the feeding behavior in obese patients. In addition, animal studies have investigated the different stimulation systems and methods to activate or inhibit transit in the small and large intestines. This article presents a review of the published literature on electrical stimulation of the stomach and intestines. [source] Investigation of the Relationship Between Stimulus Parameters and a Human Muscle Contraction Force During Stimulation of the Gastrocnemius MuscleARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 2 2010Piotr Kaczmarek Abstract The article presents the results of investigations on the influence of biphasic stimulus parameters such as duration and stimulus interphase interval (IPI) on a gastrocnemius muscle contraction force. Seven healthy volunteers participated in this experiment, and 24 different stimuli patterns were tested. Special attention was paid to the comfort level of a sensory perception while the electrostimulation was applied. During the test, an optimal stimulus pattern evoking contraction at the level over 15% maximum voluntary contraction force and preserving a good comfort perception reported by all of the participants was investigated. It was found that bursts of pulses with width 175 µs and the IPI from 50 to 1000 µs satisfied these criteria. Moreover, it was observed that the increase of the IPI duration generated a significantly stronger contraction force in comparison with the stimulation with the standard biphasic pulses (IPI = 0 µs) having the same amplitude, frequency, and pulse duration. This shows that the modulation of the IPI might be a potentially useful support for the standard force-control methods and may find an application in neuromuscular electrical stimulation systems. [source] | ||||||||||