A nerve stimulation system including a stimulation probe including a handle and a stimulation head at an end of the handle; a reference electrode; and a control system in communication with the stimulation probe and the reference electrode, the control system configured to generate an electrical stimulation signal that, when delivered to a skin surface of a patient using the stimulation probe, induces an activation potential in a plurality of nociceptors while remaining below a threshold that induces a muscle contractile response.

According to an aspect of the present inventive concept there is provided a method for determining a nociceptive withdrawal reflex threshold of a person, the method comprising: applying a plurality of stimulations to a person with different stimulation intensity levels in accordance with a stimulation intensity algorithm, wherein the plurality of stimulations comprises at least one stimulation having an intensity level provoking a spinal cord withdrawal reflex in the person, recording electromyographic data representative of muscle activity of the person in response to each stimulation of the plurality of stimulations, and processing the stimulation intensity levels and the electromyographic data according to a threshold calculation algorithm to calculate a measure of the nociceptive withdrawal reflex threshold of the person. There is also provided a corresponding system.

A system having a device for neural stimulation of a patient's cochlea, an in-situ device for measuring a patient's response to the neural stimulation of the cochlea, and a programming unit for adjusting the stimulation device; the stimulation device having a stimulation signal unit for generating a stimulation signal formed of pulses having a shape determined by a shape parameter set including at least one shape parameter; a cochlear implant stimulation arrangement with a plurality of stimulation channels for stimulating the cochlea based on the stimulation signal; the measuring device providing patient-specific response data concerning the stimulation response to a programming unit that controls the stimulation signal unit by subsequently supplying a plurality of different test shape parameter sets to the stimulation signal unit for causing the stimulation signal unit to generate corresponding test pulses, the programming unit evaluating each test shape parameter set based on stimulation response data.

In some examples, electrical stimulation is delivered to a patient such that selective termination of the stimulation causes a therapeutic effect in the patient after termination of the electrical stimulation to the patient. The electrical stimulation may be insufficient to produce a desired therapeutic effect in the patient during stimulation, but sufficient to induce a post-stimulation desired therapeutic effect following termination of the stimulation. In some examples, the electrical stimulation may be sub-threshold electrical stimulation. In some examples, the desired therapeutic effect may alleviate bladder dysfunction, bowel dysfunction, or other disorders. The stimulation may be selectively terminated in response to one or more therapy trigger events to induce the post-stimulation therapeutic effect.

A method for identifying and treating a neural pathway associated with chronic pain via nerve stimulation and brain wave monitoring of a mammalian brain includes positioning a probe to stimulate a target nerve, wherein the target nerve is suspected of being a source of chronic pain; delivering a first nerve stimulation from the probe to the target nerve, wherein the first nerve stimulation is sufficient to elicit a chronic pain response in the brain; and monitoring for evoked potential activity in the brain as a result of the first nerve stimulation. The method can also include delivering second and third nerve stimulations to confirm the correct identification of the neural pathway and to treat the chronic pain, respectively. A system and apparatus for performing a procedure to identify and treat a nerve that is the source of chronic pain are also described.

The disclosure describes devices and methods for providing transdermal electrical stimulation therapy to a subject including positioning a stimulator electrode over a glabrous skin surface overlying a palm of the subject and delivering electrical stimulation via a pulse generator transdermally through the glabrous skin surface and to a target nerve or tissue within the hand to stimulate the target nerve or tissue within the hand so that pain felt by the subject is mitigated. The pulses generated during the electrical stimulation therapy may include pulses of two different magnitudes.

The disclosure describes devices and methods for providing transdermal electrical stimulation therapy to a subject including positioning a stimulator electrode over a glabrous skin surface overlying a palm of the subject and delivering electrical stimulation via a pulse generator transdermally through the glabrous skin surface and to a target nerve or tissue within the hand to stimulate the target nerve or tissue within the hand so that pain felt by the subject is mitigated. The pulses generated during the electrical stimulation therapy may include pulses of two different magnitudes.

The present invention is directed to a software algorithm that measures the number of corneal nerve fibers in images captured by microscopy including images from patients obtained by in vivo corneal confocal microscopy, a noninvasive technique. The present invention solves a complicated segmentation problem, by exploiting the piece wise linear nature of the nerve fibers—i.e., the nerves are made up of a lot of straight line segments. The image is split into sub-regions, where each sub-region contains nerves mostly running in the same, straight direction. Having the nerves all in straight-lines within a single 2d image region dramatically simplifies the segmentation problem. The image intensities are summed in the direction of the nerves to reduce the 2d representation to a 1d signal having pronounced peaks where the nerves are located.

A processing device receives signals associated with nerve impulses that are transmitted to the visual cortex of a subject in response to one or more visual stimuli provided to at least one eye of the subject. The processing device processes the received signals and generates digital image data from the processed received signals that is representative of the visual perception, by the subject, of the one or more visual stimuli. In certain embodiments, the processing device processes digital image data that is representative of a scene to convert the digital image data to a sequence of nerve impulses, and provides the sequence of nerve impulses to the visual cortex of a subject such that the subject visually perceives the scene.

In some examples, electrical stimulation is delivered to a patient such that selective termination of the stimulation causes a therapeutic effect in the patient after termination of the electrical stimulation to the patient. The electrical stimulation may be insufficient to produce a desired therapeutic effect in the patient during stimulation, but sufficient to induce a post-stimulation desired therapeutic effect following termination of the stimulation. In some examples, the electrical stimulation may be sub-threshold electrical stimulation. In some examples, the desired therapeutic effect may alleviate bladder dysfunction, bowel dysfunction, or other disorders. The stimulation may be selectively terminated in response to one or more therapy trigger events to induce the post-stimulation therapeutic effect.