Patent ID: 8583253

Claim:
A method for estimating electrode resistance values for electrodes of an electrical stimulation system for stimulation of tissue of a patient, the method comprising: calculating an aggregate resistance value for each electrode in a group of electrodes of an implantable stimulation lead of the electrical stimulation system, wherein the calculating, for each electrode, comprises: (i) setting a respective electrode in the group of electrodes as an anode; (ii) setting electrodes in the group of electrodes other than the respective electrodes as cathodes; (iii) applying a predetermined electrical signal through the group of electrodes using a pulse generator of the electrical stimulation system; (iv) measuring current flow or voltage resulting from application of the predetermined electrical signal through the group of the electrodes; (v) calculating the aggregate resistance value for the respective electrode in response to the measuring; calculating an individual resistance value for each electrode of the group of electrodes using the set of aggregate resistance values for the group of electrodes, wherein the calculating calculates the individual resistance value for each electrode using the following formula: (1+1/(M−1))X N −Σ i=1 M X i /(M−1) where X i is the aggregate resistance value for the i th electrode and M is the number of electrodes in the group of electrodes.