I-Corps: Wearable vibro-tactile stimulation technology for the treatment of dystonia and stroke

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是推进和商业化平台技术，为神经运动障碍患者提供振动治疗，特别是那些肌肉张力改变的人。这项技术将解决肌张力障碍、中风或帕金森病患者的未满足的医疗需求，这些患者患有不自主肌肉痉挛、过度肌肉痉挛或僵硬。目前，市场上还没有成熟的竞争技术。初步市场分析显示，用于治疗肌张力障碍和中风的医疗器械市场具有商业潜力。 在该项目成功完成后，该项目将探索对创新商业生态系统的更深入理解，包括验证患者需求，监管障碍和患者和医疗保健行业对每种技术应用的成本限制。该I-Corps进一步开发了一种平台技术，该技术利用受神经疾病影响的肌肉上方皮肤的表面振动。该技术嵌入可穿戴设备中，为治疗一系列神经运动障碍提供非侵入性神经调节。其有效性背后的神经生理学机制是触觉振动，其刺激皮肤和肌肉中的机械感受器，调节参与运动控制的运动皮层回路的兴奋性。对喉肌张力障碍患者的概念验证研究记录了振动触觉刺激对改善这种疾病的声音症状的有效性。研究表明，喉振动触觉刺激减少了异常的躯体感觉运动皮层活动，提高了痉挛性发声障碍患者的语音质量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得支持的，通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to advance and commercialize a platform technology that provides vibration therapy to people with neurological movement disorders, especially those with altered muscle tone. This technology will address an unmet medical need for patients with dystonia, stroke or Parkinson's disease, who suffer from involuntary muscle spasms, excessive muscle spasticity or rigidity. At present, there is no mature competing technology on the market. A preliminary market analysis shows commercial potential in the market for medical devices for the treatment of dystonia and stroke. At the successful completion of the program, the project will have explored enhanced understanding of the commercial ecosystem for the innovation, ranging from validating patient need, regulatory hurdles and cost constraints for the patients and the health care industry for each of the technology applications.This I-Corps further develops a platform technology utilizing superficial vibration to the skin above muscles affected by neurological disease. The technology is embedded in wearable devices that provide non-invasive neuromodulation for treating a range of neurological movement disorders. The neurophysiological mechanism behind its effectiveness is tactile vibration that stimulates mechanoreceptors in the skin and muscles modulating the excitability of motor cortical circuits involved in motor control. Proof-of-concept research on patients with laryngeal dystonia documented the effectiveness of vibro-tactile stimulation for improving the voice symptoms of this disorder. It was demonstrated that laryngeal vibro-tactile stimulation reduces abnormal somatosensory-motor cortical activity and improves speech quality in a sample of patients with spasmodic dysphonia.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.