Patent ID: 11890472
Assignee: TC1 LLC
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A method of treating pain of a patient via electrical stimulation of a portion of a dorsal root ganglion of the patient, the method comprising:
positioning a lead having at least one electrode so that at least one of the at least one electrode resides in proximity to the portion of a dorsal root ganglion using an implant tool, wherein the implant tool has a curved distal end to introduce the lead from within an epidural space of the patient and through a foramen to access the dorsal root ganglion; and
operating a programmer device to control provision of a plurality of stimulating signals by a pulse generator to the at least one electrode to stimulate the dorsal root ganglion to determine optimal therapy parameters to treat the pain of the patient, wherein (1) the operating the programmer device comprises performing mapping operations to identify sets of parameters that activate distinct sub-dermatome regions associated with the dorsal root ganglion, (2) the programmer device provides a current step size that is selectable from a plurality of values, and (3) the plurality of values includes at least one current step size that is sufficiently small to permit identification of sub-dermatomal stimulation.