DE102010018319A1 - Arrangement for software controlled galvanically decoupled conditioning of retina implant electrode contacts of patient, performs surface conditioning i.e. activation, of electrode contacts coated with iridium oxide or titanium nitride - Google Patents

Abstract

Technical problem of the invention = technical task and objective A significant problem of the state of the art with retina implants is that the described activation of electrode contacts coated with iridium oxide or titanium nitride using the cyclic voltammetry method is very time-consuming and therefore costly, since several treatment cycles are required for each Electrode contact are required and this activation requires a galvanic connection between the electrode array and the potentiostat required for activation. Electrode contacts of encapsulated retinal implants cannot be activated again in this way, since after encapsulation no more galvanic connection to the electrode contacts can be established, which is absolutely necessary for activation using cyclic voltammetry. Furthermore, reactivation of electrode contacts of already implanted retina implants is impossible. Solution to the problem or the technical problem The object of the invention is to quickly and thus economically multiple electrode contacts in retinal implants which, for. B. coated with iridium oxide or titanium nitride to activate. Furthermore, the invention should also offer the possibility of being able to activate multiple electrode contacts of already finished and encapsulated retinal implants. This also includes the reactivation of electrode contacts in already implanted visual prostheses. The task is implemented by galvanic decoupling of the activation generator and the retina implant. The activation takes place z. B. by wireless (telemetric) transmission of digital pulse patterns that mimic the activation effect of cyclic voltammetry. Field of application The device is intended for the conditioning or re-conditioning of electrode contacts of neural prostheses (e.g. retinia implants) with the aim of optimizing the contact between electrode and target tissue (e.g. retina).

Description

Field of use:

The invention relates to a device according to the preamble of claim I.

State of the art:

Current state of the art in the field of neural prostheses (eg, visual prostheses or retina implants) is that there are first successful implantations of functional retinal implants (RI) that have been used to produce visual perceptions, e.g. B. points of light or strokes represented. The development of visual prostheses will allow blind patients in the next few years to capture environmental images (eg with an external camera) and to relay them via multi-electrode arrays via electrical retinopathy of the retina via the visual pathway to the visual cortex of the brain in order to record the images to be processed in such a way that the retina implant carrier can convert the recorded image information into visual impressions. The electrode contacts of the multi-electrode arrays used for signal transmission usually have a coating of iridium oxide or titanium nitride which are "activated" by the cyclic voltammetry method in order to increase the charge transfer capacity of the electrode contact ( Shire, D., Rizzo, JF, & Wyatt, JL 2001 ; Zhou, D., Greenberg, RJ, & Talbot, MH 2009 ).

The invention describes a fast and thus very economical method for fully automatic, galvanically decoupled surface conditioning (eg activation) of multi-electrode arrays of encapsulated retinal implants.

Disadvantages of the prior art:

A significant disadvantage of the prior art is that the described activation of iridium oxide or titanium nitride coated electrode contacts with the method of cyclic voltammetry is very time consuming and therefore costly, since several treatment cycles are required for each electrode contact and for this activation a galvanic connection between the Electrode array and required for activation potentiostat is required ( Slavcheva, E., Vitushinsky, R., Mokwa, W., & Schnakenberg, U. 2004 ). Electrode contacts of encapsulated Retina implants can not be reactivated in this way, because after the encapsulation no more galvanic connection to the electrode contacts can be made, which is absolutely necessary for activation by means of cyclic voltammetry. Furthermore, a re-activation of electrode contacts already implanted retinal implants is impossible.

Objects of the invention:

The object of the invention is to quickly and therefore economically multiple electrode contacts in retinal implants, z. B. with iridium oxide or titanium nitride are activated. Furthermore, the invention should also offer the possibility of being able to activate multiple electrode contacts of already produced and encapsulated retinal implants. This also includes the re-activation of electrode contacts of already implanted visual prostheses.

Solution of the task:

The task is implemented by a galvanic decoupling of activation generator and retina implant. The activation takes place z. By wireless (telemetric) transmission of digital pulse patterns that mimic the activation effect of cyclic voltammetry.

Advantages of the invention:

• 1) Die Erfindung ermöglicht die softwaregesteuerte, drahtlose Oberflächenkonditionierung (z. B. Aktivierung) von beschichteten Elektrodenkontakten neuronaler Prothesen (z. B. Sehprothesen) mittels digitaler Pulsfolgen mit dem Vorteil, dass die Konditionierungszeiten im Vergleich zu Verfahren wie der zyklischen Voltammetrie signifikant verkürzt werden. Weiterhin wird die Handhabung gegenüber dem Verfahren der zyklischen Voltammetrie drastisch vereinfacht. Beide Effekte tragen zur Reduktion der Produktionskosten bei.
• 2) Die Erfindung ermöglicht die Re-Aktivierung von Elektrodenkontakten bereits implantierter neuronaler Prothesen (z. B. Sehprothesen) ohne die für den Patienten und das Gesundheitssystem belastenden Prozesses der Explantation und erneuten Implantation von neuronalen Prothesen (z. B. Sehprothesen)

The invention has the following advantages:

• 1) The invention enables the software-controlled, wireless surface conditioning (eg activation) of coated electrode contacts of neural prostheses (eg, visual prostheses) by means of digital pulse sequences with the advantage that the conditioning times are significantly shortened compared to methods such as cyclic voltammetry , Furthermore, the handling over the process of cyclic voltammetry is drastically simplified. Both effects contribute to the reduction of production costs.
• 2) The invention enables the re-activation of electrode contacts of already implanted neuronal prostheses (eg, visual prostheses) without the burden on the patient and the health system process of explantation and re-implantation of neural prostheses (eg, visual prostheses)

REFERENCES

• Shire, D., Rizzo, JF, & Wyatt, JL Chronically implanted retinal prosthesis. [ US 6,324,429 B1 ]. 27-1-2001. USA. Ref Type: Patent
• Slavcheva, E., Vitushinsky, R., Mokwa, W., & Schnakenberg, U. 2004. Sputtered iridium oxide films as charge injection material for functional electrostimulation. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 151 (7): 226-237 ,
• Zhou, D., Greenberg, RJ, & Talbot, MH Adherent metal oxide coating forming a high surface area electrode. Second Sight Medical Products Inc. [ US 7,571,011 B2 ]. 4-8-2009. USA. Ref Type: Patent

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be explained in more detail below.

It shows

1 : Schematic representation of the arrangement for software-controlled galvanic decoupled conditioning of Retina Implant ElectrodeContacts (GEKO) during production

The arrangement for software-controlled galvanic decoupled conditioning of Retina Implant Electrode Acts (GEKO) consists of a computer unit with the usual input devices 2 - 4 (eg keyboard, mouse, scanner, etc.) and output devices 2 (eg monitor), a control unit 5 (Control Unit), a transmitting coil 6 and the retina implant 7 ,

On the computer unit 2 - 4 is a software installed for surface conditioning digital control pulses to the control unit 5 transfers. The control unit 5 modulates these digital control pulses onto a high frequency carrier signal and passes it to the transmitter coil 6 further. The transmitter coil transmits the RF signal to the receiver coil of the retina implant 7 , The electrode contacts of the retinal implant 7 are immersed in a special solution and are conditioned (eg activated) by the signal decoded by the implant

2 : Schematic representation of the arrangement for software-controlled galvanic decoupled conditioning of retinal implant electrode contact (GEKO) in implanted retinal implants

The arrangement for software-controlled galvanic decoupled conditioning of implanted Retina Implant Electrode Acts (GEKO) consists of a computer unit with the usual input devices 2 - 4 (eg keyboard, mouse, scanner, etc.) and output devices 2 (eg monitor), a control unit 5 (Control Unit), a transmitting coil 6 one into a patient 7 implanted retina implant 8th ,

On the computer unit 2 - 4 is a software installed for surface conditioning digital control pulses to the control unit 5 transfers. The control unit 5 modulates these digital control pulses onto a high frequency carrier signal and passes it to the transmitter coil 6 further. The transmitter coil transmits the RF signal to the receiver coil of the retina implant 8th in the eye of the patient 7 , The electrode contacts of the retinal implant are in contact with the patient's retina 7 and are re-conditioned (eg re-activated) by the signal decoded by the implant

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• US 6324429 B1 [0008]
• US 7571011 B2 [0008]

Cited non-patent literature

• Shire, D., Rizzo, JF, & Wyatt, JL 2001 [0002]
• Zhou, D., Greenberg, RJ, & Talbot, MH 2009 [0002]
• Slavcheva, E., Vitushinsky, R., Mokwa, W., & Schnakenberg, U. 2004 [0004]
• Slavcheva, E., Vitushinsky, R., Mokwa, W., & Schnakenberg, U. 2004. Sputtered iridium oxide films as charge injection material for functional electrostimulation. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 151 (7): 226-237 [0008]

Claims (8)

Arrangement for the software-controlled galvanic decoupled conditioning of retinal implant electrode contacts (GEKO), characterized in that surface conditioning (eg activation) of electrode contacts coated with iridium oxide can be carried out Device according to claim 1, characterized in that a surface conditioning (eg activation) of titanium nitride coated electrode contacts can be carried out Device according to claim 1 to 2, characterized in that a surface conditioning (eg activation) of coated electrode contacts can be carried out Device according to claim 1 to 3, characterized in that a surface conditioning (eg activation) according to claim 1-3 by means of galvanic isolation between conditioning generator (control unit 5 with computer unit and control software 2 - 4 ) and retina implant can be performed. Apparatus according to claim 1 to 4, characterized in that a re-conditioning of electrode contacts already implanted retina implants can be performed Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the arrangement according to claims 1-5 can also be used for other neural implants (eg hearing prostheses, gait prostheses, etc.) in order to condition (eg activate) electrode contacts ) or to recondition (eg, re-activate) with the aim of oiptimating the contact between the stimulation electrode and the target tissue Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for conditioning or re-conditioning digital pulse sequences are used. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for conditioning or re-conditioning freely definable signals are used.

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