Patent ID: 6663571
Filing Date: 2003-12-16
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A noninvasive method to determine the cerebral blood flow velocity response to odors by a human subject, including, steps of:(a) obtaining a subject's baseline cerebral blood flow velocity in cerebral arteries on both sides of the brain using a transcranial Doppler ultrasound instrument with two probes placed on the temples and sample volumes focused on cerebral vessels on both sides; (b) simultaneously with (a) obtaining the mean blood flow velocity in both pairs of cerebral arteries at baseline; (c) testing the subject with odor tasks while simultaneously monitoring the mean blood flow velocity during each task in real-time; (d) determining the response of the brain using mean cerebral blood flow velocity to a target odor: (e) determining the response of the brain using side-to-side differences in mean cerebral blood flow velocity to a target odor; (f) determining the response of the brain using side-to-side differences in mean cerebral blood flow velocity to a given odor; (g) simultaneously with (f) determining if there is a match of the response of the brain using side-to-side differences in mean cerebral blood flow velocity to a given odor compared to the response evoked by target odor; and (h) simultaneously with (g) assessing if by varying the intensity of the given odor the match in response to target odor could be enhanced.