Systems and methods for personalized ultrasound neuromodulation

Inventors

He, Bin • Yu, Kai

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a system and method for implementing a personalized ultrasound neuromodulation system and methods with neural sensing of personalized electrophysiological data, guiding ultrasound targeting and dosage using such personalized data. Specific ultrasound transducer solutions are provided for various neural targets that enable the low-intensity focused ultrasound to modulate the central nervous system and peripheral nervous systems to treat a variety of neurological and mental disorders. A portable ultrasound console device, a wearable guiding apparatus and a compact solution for effectively and safely enabling point-of-care neuromodulation, e.g., home healthcare, are provided. Further methods for ultrasound waveform customization are also described to improve effectiveness of ultrasound neuromodulation.

Core Innovation

Sensing personalized data about the biological system, determining baseline parameters of ultrasound stimulation based on collected personalized data, and delivering the ultrasound stimulation using the baseline parameters to one or more specific targets through a surface of the biological system using a plurality of ultrasonic elements spatially distributed over the surface, with each element location registered in reference to specific anatomical locations of the one or more specific targets. Neural activity is estimated using an electrophysical source imaging process that estimates neural activity based on a spatio-temporal distribution of electrophysiological signals on the surface of the biological system.

The estimated neural activity is processed to adjust the parameters of the ultrasound stimulation, and the estimated neural activity is further processed to adjust spatial targeting of the ultrasound stimulation to the one or more specific targets. The spatial targeting is accomplished by converting a spatial position of each ultrasound element to a subject-specific time-delay profile of the ultrasound array distributed over the surface of the biological system, and the ultrasound stimulation is delivered using the adjusted parameters and spatial targeting over a duration.

The approach is personalized and non-invasive, and it uses electrophysical source imaging of surface electrophysiological signals to guide ultrasound neuromodulation. The disclosed process explicitly includes correcting for volume conduction and field propagation effects in reconstructing neural sources induced by ultrasound neuromodulation from electrophysiological measurements taken at the surface of the biological system.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim describes a non-invasive personalized neuromodulation method with electrophysiological source imaging-based estimation of neural activity from surface signals and subsequent processing to adjust both ultrasound stimulation parameters and spatial targeting via subject-specific time-delay profiles. The independent claim contains two core adjustable outputs (stimulation parameters and spatial targeting) derived from estimated neural activity.

Across the independent claim, neural activity is estimated from surface electrophysiological signals using electrophysical source imaging, and that estimated neural activity is used to adjust both ultrasound stimulation parameters and spatial targeting through subject-specific time-delay profiles derived from registered element positions. The disclosed source imaging is further framed to counter volume conduction or field propagation when reconstructing neural sources.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications