Abstract
Vagus nerve stimulators currently on the market can treat epilepsy and depression. Recent clinical trials show the potential for vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to treat epilepsy, autoimmune disease, and traumatic brain injury. As we explore the benefits of VNS, it is expected that more possibilities for a new treatment will emerge in the future. However, existing VNS relies on electrical stimulation, whose limited selectivity (due to its poor spatial resolution) does not allow for any control over which therapeutic effect to induce. We hypothesize that by localizing the stimulation to fascicular level within the vagus nerve with focused ultrasound (US), it is possible to induce selective therapeutic effects with less side effects. A geometrically curve US transducer array that is small enough to wrap around the vagus nerve was fabricated. An experiment was conducted in water, with 48 US elements curved in a 1 mm radius and excited at 15 MHz to test the focusing capabilities of the device. The results show that the geometrical curvature focused the US to an area with a width and height of 110 μm and 550 μm. This will be equivalent to only 2.1% of the cross section of the vagus nerve, showing the potential of focused US to stimulate individual neuronal fibers within the vagus nerve selectively.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | 2019 9th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering |
Publisher | IEEE |
Pages | 1239-1242 |
Number of pages | 4 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-5386-7921-0 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-1-5386-7922-7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Event | NER'19: The 9th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering: Neurotechnologies for medical therapies and beyond - The Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel, San Francisco, United States Duration: 20 Mar 2019 → 23 Mar 2019 Conference number: 9th |
Conference
Conference | NER'19: The 9th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering |
---|---|
Abbreviated title | NER2019 |
Country/Territory | United States |
City | San Francisco |
Period | 20/03/19 → 23/03/19 |