System and method for intraoperative characterization of brain function using input from a touch panel device
Inventors
Graham, Simon James • MORRISON, MELANIE ANNE • Tam, Fred • Schweizer, Tom Andreas • Das, Sunit • GARAVAGLIA, MARCO
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-10506962-B2
Publication Date
2019-12-17
Expiration Date
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for performing an intraoperative assessment of brain function based on input that is obtained using a touch panel device, in response to a task, and in the presence of an intervention that is applied to a selected region of the brain. The intervention may be stimulation of the selected region of the brain, such as direct cortical stimulation. In some embodiments, a measure is determined based on the input received from the touch panel. The measure may be a performance measure, related to the performance of the task, and/or a functional measure, associated with an inferred function of the selected region of the brain. In some embodiments, an image of the brain that is registered to an intraoperative reference frame may be annotated or otherwise modified within the selected region based on the measure.
Core Innovation
The invention provides a system for performing an intraoperative assessment of brain function during an intervention applied to a patient’s brain. The system includes an intervention device configured to apply a stimulation to the brain, a tracking device configured to track a location of the intervention device within an intraoperative reference frame, a touch panel device that receives input from the patient in response to a task, and a computing device that obtains the intraoperative input and determines a measure associated with the intraoperative input when the intervention is applied to a selected region of the patient’s brain.
The computing device displays visual output on a display device associating the measure with the selected region. The system further detects an event associated with the task and controls the timing of the application of the stimulation in relation to the event. The disclosed framework ties patient task performance to stimulation timing and links the computed measures to where the intervention device is applied in the intraoperative reference frame.
The invention includes processing for task-specific measures, including obtaining intraoperative input during a word generation task and performing a handwriting recognition algorithm to determine words entered by the patient. The system processes the determined words to determine the number of words inputted by the patient, and determines a measure based on the number of words entered by the patient. In addition, the described system can obtain intraoperative and baseline-related performance inputs to produce the measure.
Claims Coverage
The document includes two independent claims, each defining a system for intraoperative assessment of brain function with touch-panel input linked to stimulation location and a displayed measure.
Intraoperative assessment system with tracked stimulation and touch-panel measures
A system comprising an intervention device configured to apply a stimulation to a patient’s brain; a tracking device configured to track a location of the intervention device within an intraoperative reference frame; a touch panel device configured to receive input from the patient; a display device; and a computing device operatively connected to the tracking device, the touch panel device, and the display device, wherein the computing device obtains intraoperative input via the touch panel device in response to a task, determines a measure associated with the intraoperative input when the intervention is applied to a selected region of the patient’s brain, and displays visual output associating the measure with the selected region.
Event-based control of stimulation timing linked to task events
The processor is further configured to detect an event associated with the task and control the timing of the application of the stimulation in relation to the event.
Word generation measure from touch-panel handwriting recognition
The system where the task is a word generation task, and wherein the processor processes intraoperative input provided to the touch panel device by performing a handwriting recognition algorithm to determine the words entered by the patient, processing the words to determine the number of words that were inputted by the patient, and determining the measure based on the number of words entered by the patient.
Overall, the independent claims cover an intraoperative assessment system that couples tracked stimulation of a selected brain region with touch-panel task input, computes and displays a corresponding measure, and, in narrowed form, computes a word-generation measure using handwriting recognition and word-count-based determination, with optional event-associated timing control.
Stated Advantages
Documented Applications
No documented applications found
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