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/商业潜力是推进一种平台技术并将其商业化，该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患者。这项技术将解决肌张力障碍、中风或帕金森氏症患者尚未满足的医疗需求，这些患者患有非自愿肌肉痉挛、过度肌肉痉挛或僵硬。目前，市场上还没有成熟的竞争技术。初步的市场分析显示，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，该项目将探索增强对创新商业生态系统的理解，范围包括验证患者需求、监管障碍和患者和医疗行业每项技术应用的成本限制。i-Corps进一步开发了一种平台技术，利用表面振动对受神经疾病影响的肌肉上方的皮肤进行振动。这项技术被嵌入到可穿戴设备中，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，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质回路的兴奋性。对喉肌张力障碍患者的概念验证研究证明了振动触觉刺激对改善这种疾病的声音症状的有效性。喉部振动-触觉刺激在痉挛性发音障碍患者样本中被证明减少了异常的躯体感觉-运动皮质活动，并改善了语音质量。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

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.