I-Corps: Concentric Technology

传统的盘状电极(CDE)脑电是目前各种脑、神经和心理疾病的主要诊断工具。然而，它的敏感性/特异性较低，这是误诊的根本原因。市场需要一个更好的工具来理解大脑活动。表面拉普拉斯脑电通过减少由于颅骨的强烈衰减而产生的模糊效应来提高空间分辨率。为了提高信噪比，现有的方法主要依赖于信号处理技术，没有解决CDE的局限性，导致结果不是最优的。I-Corps团队建议通过利用新一代电极--三极同心环电极(TCRE)来改变电极配置，以提高EEG的SNR。TCRE电极可以执行拉普拉斯式自动从紧密间隔的电极元件中获取电位的双极差。TCRE脑电在空间选择性、信噪比、局部性和拉普拉斯估计等方面明显优于CDE脑电。TCRE在方向上独立于全局信号源，并由于其同心配置而高度关注局部活动，这大大减弱了远距离信号和伪影，如眨眼和心电图。初步临床数据显示，TCRE EEG揭示了患者S在癫痫发作过程中的脑活动，这是CDE EEG所不可能的。TCRE EEG将满足CDE EEG无法满足的临床和研究需求。脑电技术是医院诊断程序和术前计划的支柱之一。随着TCRE提供的重大技术进步，EEG作为一种工具将继续增加价值，以帮助医生提高各种患者的生活质量。脑电技术的根本性进步将促进对各种大脑疾病和神经疾病(癫痫、睡眠障碍、中风、帕金森氏症、阿尔茨海默氏症等)的诊断和科学研究。并更有效地指导神经外科和其他医疗程序。TCRE信号保真度的提高可能会使生物标志物的检测能够用EEG来量化神经疾病(如自闭症)，这在以前是不可能的。此外，TCRE EEG将提高脑机接口的性能，这可能为那些不能使用或有限使用肌肉但认知完好无损的人提供一种交流和控制的替代方案。在商业上，TCRE EEG可能会改变市场格局，并为EEG设备设定一个新的标准。这个i-Corps奖项有可能加速创新从实验室到市场的转变。

Conventional disc electrode (CDE) EEG is currently the primary diagnostic tool for various brain, neurological, and psychological disorders. However, it suffers from poor sensitivity/specificity, which is a root cause of misdiagnosis. The market needs a better tool for understanding brain activities. Surface Laplacian EEG increases the spatial resolution by decreasing the blurring effects due to the strong attenuation of the skull. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), existing methods primarily rely on signal processing techniques without addressing the limitations of CDEs, which result in suboptimal outcome. The I-Corps team proposes transforming the electrode configuration to improve the SNR of EEG by utilizing a new generation of electrodes, tripolar concentric ring electrodes (TCREs), which perform the Laplacian automatically taking bipolar differences of the potentials from closely spaced electrode elements. TCRE EEG has significantly better spatial selectivity, SNR, localization, and Laplacian estimate than CDE EEG. TCREs are directionally independent to global sources and highly focused on local activity due to their concentric configuration, which sharply attenuates distant signals and artifacts such as eye blinks and ECG. Preliminary clinical data showed that TCRE EEG revealed the patient?s brain activity during epileptic seizures which was not possible with CDE EEG.TCRE EEG will fill clinical and research needs unmet by CDE EEG. EEG technology is one of the mainstays of hospital diagnostic procedure and pre-surgical planning. With the significant technological improvement provided by the TCRE, EEG will continue to increase in value as a tool to assist doctors in improving the quality of life for a wide variety of patients. The fundamental improvement in EEG technology will advance the diagnosis of and scientific research on various brain diseases and neurological disorders (epilepsy, sleep disorders, stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, etc.) and more effectively guide neurosurgical and other medical procedures. The increased signal fidelity from TCRE may allow detection of biomarkers to quantify neurological disorders (such as autism) with EEG which was not previously possible. Furthermore, TCRE EEG will improve the performance of Brain Computer Interfaces which may provide those persons who cannot use or have limited use of their muscles but are cognitively intact with an alternative for communication and control. Commercially, TCRE EEG may transform the market landscape and setting a new standard for EEG equipment. This I-Corps award has the potential to accelerate the transition of innovation from lab to market.