Patent · US Expired

Electroconvulsive therapy apparatus and method for monitoring patient seizures

US5269302A · kind A · utility

135Cited by
3References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 6, 1992
Grant dateDec 14, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 6, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA61N1/38
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

In electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) the duration of the generated skeletal muscle, heart and brain wave activity during the administration of the electrically induced therapeutic seizures is automatically monitored. The ECT device includes a special purpose electromyograph (EMG) to detect isolated muscle activity and, in one embodiment, an electrocardiograph (ECG) to detect heart-beat intervals, and in another embodiment also includes an electroencephalograph (EEG) system to detect an EEG parameter of the electrically induced EEG seizure. The detected voltage from the EMG, ECG and EEG are converted to digital data and compared to a set of threshold reference values previously obtained from the same patient. The operator is informed by a display, or auditory signal, if the selected parameters have crossed the predetermined threshold reference value and the time period, since termination of the ECT that each parameter has taken to reach the reference value.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.