Patent ID: 11938324
Assignee: THE FEINSTEIN INSTITUTES FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A method for stimulating a vagus nerve of a subject, comprising:
controlling, by a controller, a signal generator to generate and apply a first set of electrical signals based on a first set of signal parameters to at least two vagus nerve electrodes;
receiving, by the controller, responsive to an application of the electrical signals, physiological measurements of the subject, the physiological measurements including heart rate measurements, breathing interval measurements, and electromyography measurements;
receiving, by the controller, an indication selecting one of afferent A-type fibers, efferent A-type fibers, and B-type fibers for activation;
determining, by the controller, based on the received physiological measurements, a set of physiological selectivity indices (PSIs), a set of neural selectivity indices (NSIs), and a set of fiber activation magnitudes associated with a selected one of the afferent A-type fibers, the efferent A-type fibers, and the B-type fibers;
varying, by the controller, at least one parameter of the first set of signal parameters to provide a second set of signal parameters and controlling, by the controller, the signal generator to generate and apply electrical signals based on the second set of signal parameters to the at least two vagus nerve electrodes, while monitoring resulting changes in at least one of the set of PSIs and the set of NSIs;
determining, by the controller, based on the varying, a preferred set of signal parameters for stimulus waveforms for activating the selected one of the afferent A-type fibers, the efferent A-type fibers, and the B-type fibers, the preferred set of signal parameters resulting in predetermined changes in the set of PSIs and the set of NSIs; and
controlling, by the controller, the vagus nerve signal generator to generate and apply to the at least two vagus nerve electrodes electrical signals based on the preferred set of signal parameters.