Portable EEG Recorder for Household Surveys

描述(申请人提供)：先进医疗电子公司(AME)建议开发一种微型便携式脑电图仪(EEG)记录仪，可以方便地在家中使用，为老年人纵向调查收集数据。该设备将能够使用新的干燥电极技术，有望极大地简化脑电头皮电极的连接。干燥电极技术将允许受过最低限度培训的人将设备连接到患者身上，并收集30分钟的数据片段。在第一阶段，AME将确定最有希望的干电极技术，以便在第二阶段与记录器整合。拟议的口袋大小的脑电记录器将足够小，以便在日常活动中相对不显眼地佩戴。这将使该设备用于动态癫痫监测应用，并将为便携式脑电记录仪创造更大的市场。进行纵向EEG调查的研究人员将受益于与动态癫痫监测共享市场，因为生产成本较低。阿尔茨海默病(AD)是一种与年龄相关的不可逆转的大脑疾病，经过数年的发展。AD症状通常在65岁后首次出现，是纵向研究的主题。最近，人们对使用脑电(EEG)来筛查患者和识别AD的最初迹象感兴趣。有大量文献报道了进展性痴呆患者定量脑电(QEEG)随年龄的变化以及变化幅度与临床恶化程度之间的关系。EEG的使用为MRI和PET等更复杂的工具提供了一种低成本的替代方案，以区分预示未来问题的大脑功能和解剖特征。所提出的微型便携式脑电记录仪具有易于使用的干电极技术，可以应用于家庭中，为老年人纵向调查收集数据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advanced Medical Electronics Corporation (AME) proposes to develop a miniature portable electroencephalograph (EEG) recorder that can be easily used in the home to collect data for longitudinal surveys of the elderly. The device will be capable of using new dry electrode technology that promises to greatly simplify the attachment of EEG scalp electrodes. Dry electrode technology will allow a minimally trained person to make the attachment to a patient and collect a 30 minute segment of data. In phase I, AME will identify the most promising dry electrode technology to integrate with the recorder in phase II. The proposed pocket size EEG recorder will be small enough to be worn relatively unobtrusive during daily activities. This will allow the device to be used in ambulatory epilepsy monitoring applications and will create a larger market for the portable EEG recorder. Researchers conducting longitudinal EEG surveys will benefit by sharing a market with ambulatory epilepsy monitoring because of reduced production costs. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related and irreversible brain disorder that develops over a period of years. AD symptoms typically first appear after age 65 and are the subject of longitudinal studies. There has been recent interest in the use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) to screen patients and identify the first signs of AD. There is extensive literature that reports changes in quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) with aging and a relationship between magnitude of changes and degree of clinical deterioration in progressive dementia. The use of EEG provides a low cost alternative to more sophisticated tools like MRI and PET to distinguish characteristics of brain function and anatomy that indicate future problems. The proposed miniature portable EEG recorder with easily applied dry electrode technology can be applied in the home to collect data for longitudinal surveys of the elderly.