Microsensor for Intramuscular Pressure Measurement

描述(申请人提供)：目前，还没有实用的方法来直接测量单个肌肉产生的力量。手动肌肉测试不能给出准确的肌肉力量估计。关节扭矩的测量是不够的，因为几块肌肉通常对扭矩的形成有贡献。在肌腱上植入扣式换能器是一种侵入性很强的方法，对于常规使用是不切实际的。积分肌电图通常用于提供肌肉收缩的量化。然而，问题仍然是，肌电活动不能提供动态条件下肌肉张力的定量测量。与肌力相关的另一个可测量的参数是肌内压力。商业上可用的肌肉内压力传感器太大了，无法达到最佳舒适性。微传感器技术现在可以用来制造与用于肌电分析的细丝大小大致相同的换能器。 该项目的总体目标是开发和测试一种可用于常规临床肌肉功能测量的光纤微型传感器。本研究的具体目的是：a)继续开发用于测量肌肉内压力的光纤微型传感器；b)在动物模型中确定在动态条件下正常肌肉的肌肉内压力和肌肉张力之间的关系；c)建立肌肉内压力的有限元模型，以便为理解实验测量建立理论基础；以及d)进行体内人体实验，以评估肌肉内压力反映运动单位的招募、活跃运动单位的数量和复合肌肉动作电位的大小的能力。 该假说认为，肌内压力与两个独立的现象直接相关，即肌肉纤维的被动伸长和主动收缩。这种传感器的成功开发将带来一种强大的新工具。最终目标是将这种微型传感器用于临床决策，以改善神经源性疾病(例如运动神经元病、周围神经病)、神经肌肉传导障碍(例如重症肌无力、Lambert-Eaton综合征)和肌肉疾病(例如肌营养不良症、多发性肌炎、代谢性肌病)患者的灵活性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Currently, no practical method exists for direct measurement of force production from individual muscles. Manual muscle tests do not give an accurate estimate of muscle strength. Measurements of joint torque are inadequate because several muscles often contribute to torque development. Implantation of a buckle transducer on a tendon is highly invasive and impractical for regular use. The integrated electromyogram is customarily used to provide quantification of muscle contraction. However, the problem remains that the electromyographic activity cannot provide a quantitative measure of muscle tension under dynamic conditions. An alternative, measurable parameter related to muscle force is intramuscular pressure. Commercially available intramuscular pressure transducers are too large for optimum comfort. Microsensor technology is now available to construct transducers that are approximately the same size as the fine wires used for electromyographic analysis. The overall objective of this project is to develop and test a fiber optic microsensor that can be used for routine, clinical measurement of muscle function. The specific aims of this study are a) to continue development of a fiber optic microsensor to measure intramuscular pressure, b) to determine the relationships between intramuscular pressure and muscle tension under dynamic conditions for normal muscle in an animal model, c) to develop a finite element model of intramuscular pressure in order to establish a theoretical basis for understanding the experimental measurements, and d) to perform in-vivo human experiments to evaluate the ability of intramuscular pressure to reflect the recruitment of motor units, number of active motor units, and the size of the compound muscle action potential. The hypothesis is that intramuscular pressure is directly related to two independent phenomena; namely, passive elongation and active contraction of muscle fibers. Successful development of this sensor will result in a powerful new tool. The ultimate goal is to use this microsensor for clinical decision making to improve the mobility of patients with neurogenic disorders (e.g. motor neuron disease, peripheral neuropathy), disorders of neuromuscular transmission (e.g. myasthenia gravis, Lambert-Eaton syndrome) and myopathies (e.g. muscular dystrophies, polymyositis, metabolic myopathies).