Eliciting analgesia by transcranial electrical stimulation

摘要

The inventions include a method of eliciting analgesia in a human subject by Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (TCES, herein “TES”). Electrodes secured to the skin of the subject's head at particular sites provide an electrical current that includes a direct current combined with rectangular AC current pulses delivered at a particular frequency of between 10 and 100 Hz. In an embodiment the total current transmitted, a sum of the DC component and a Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) of the current pulses, has a value between 0.2 and 20 mA. The method is used to produce analgesia during perioperative period, surgery and the post-operative procedure. It can also be used for treating acute chronic pain and a wide variety of other conditions.

主权项

1. A method for administering transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) for treating or preventing a medical condition in a human subject, comprising:
a) removably fixing a frontal electrode on the frontal area of the head positioned on the subject's forehead covering an area inferiorly approximately at the level of the eyebrows and extending superiorly approximately to the hair line along the lateral part of the orbit; and a posterior pair of electrodes positioned on the back of the head at positions selected from the group consisting of:
1. an area bordered (a) on the outside by the mastoid process; (b) on the inside to about 2 cm medial to the external occipital protuberance; (c) inferiorly by the intermastoid line; and superiorly to at least 1 cm above the external occipital protuberance;2. an area from about 1.5 to about 4 cm lateral to an external occipital protuberance (EOP) to about 2 cm superior to intermastoid (IM) line or as low as about 1 cm below the IM line, and to about 0.5 cm superior to EOP;3. an area from about 5-7 cm lateral to an external occipital protuberance (EOP) either at the intermastoid (IM) line or above it, to about the midpoint between the EOP and IM lines or to below the superior nuchal line; and4. an area from about 9 cm lateral to EOP to about 1 cm above the mastoid tip; b) supplying electrical current to the frontal electrode and to the pair of second electrodes for a period of time to elicit a response from the subject, wherein
1. the electrical current comprises AC current pulses superimposed on direct current, AC current pulses alone or DC current alone, and2. the current pulses are supplied at a particular frequency of between from about 10 Hz to about 100 Hz.