A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING A LEVEL OF PAIN

Abstract

There is described a computer-implemented method for measurement of a level of pain. The method comprises the steps of: — receiving measured data comprising electroencephalogram, EEG, data collected from one or more EEG electrodes; — extracting from the EEG data, a group 4 indicator corresponding to: — a power, power (ta), associated with a theta-alpha frequency band, ta, within a theta-alpha frequency range; and - determining, based on said group 4 indicator, a level of pain, LoP, which is a value indicative for the level of pain in the subject.

Description

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for measurement of a level of pain, the method comprising the steps of: receiving measured data comprising electroencephalogram, EEG, data;extracting from the EEG data, a group 4 indicator corresponding to: a power, power (ta), associated with a theta-alpha frequency band, ta, within a theta-alpha frequency range, the theta-alpha frequency band consisting of a combination of at least part of a theta frequency band and at least part of an alpha frequency band; anddetermining, based on said group 4 indicator, a level of pain, LoP, which is a value indicative of the level of pain in the subject.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the theta-alpha frequency band, ta, comprises one or more of the following: a frequency band encompassing both theta and alpha brain waves;a frequency band extending from 6 Hz up to and including 12 Hz; and/ora bandwidth of at least 2 Hz and a frequency band comprising at least fast theta waves extending from 6 Hz up to and including 8 Hz, and/or wherein the theta-alpha frequency range: comprises a frequency range encompassing both theta and alpha brain waves; and/orextends from 4 Hz up to and including 12 Hz.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising the step of: extracting from the EEG data, a group 3 indicator corresponding to: a mean signal peak-to-peak amplitude, MSPA; anddetermining the LoP based on the group 4 indicator and at least the group 3 indicator.

4. The method according to claim 1, comprising the step of: receiving measured data comprising electromyography, EMG, data;extracting from the EMG data, a group 5 indicator corresponding to: a mean signal peak-to-peak amplitude, EMG-MSPA; anddetermining the LoP based on the group 4 indicator and at least the group 5 indicator.

5. The method according to claim 4, comprising the steps of: extracting from the EEG data, a group 3 indicator corresponding to: a mean signal peak-to-peak amplitude, MSPA; anddetermining the LoP based on the group 4 indicator, the group 3 indicator, and the group 5 indicator.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the step of: receiving the measured data of the subject comprising the electroencephalogram, EEG, data collected from one or more of the following EEG electrodes: a frontal (F) EEG electrode configured for collection of F-EEG electrode data from the scalp anatomical region corresponding to a frontal lobe of the subject,a parietal (P) EEG electrode configured for collection of P-EEG electrode data from the scalp anatomical region corresponding to a parietal lobe of the subject,a central (C) EEG electrode configured for collection of C-EEG electrode data from the scalp anatomical region corresponding to a precentral and postcentral gyrus of the subject.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the steps of: receiving reference data comprising measured data of a subject and/or a population correlated to at least one predetermined reference LoP;determining at least one correlation of at least one predetermined reference LoP and at least one group indicator extracted from the reference data; andscaling and/or indexing a subsequently measured LoP with respect to the at least one predetermined reference LoP by means of said at least one correlation, and optionally determining a level of pain index or LoPI therefrom.

8. A computer-implemented method for determining and/or monitoring a level of pain of a subject, comprising the method for measurement of a level of pain according to claim 1 applied on a subject by receiving the measured data of a subject.

9. A computer-implemented method for determining and/or monitoring and/or predicting and/or aggregating a level of pain in a subject before, during and/or after a treatment, wherein the method comprises the steps of: measurement of the LoP according to claim 1, at at least two different points in time, preferably before, during and/or after the treatment;determining and/or monitoring and/or predicting and/or aggregating an evolution, preferably a treatment-induced evolution of the LoP, based on a comparison of at least two LoP measured at at least two different points in time; and/oraggregating a level of pain score or LoPS based on an aggregation of at least two LoP measured at at least two different points in time.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprises the step of: determining the treatment-induced evolution of the LoP, based on a comparison of the LoP measured during and/or after the treatment with the LoP measured before the treatment.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the treatment is a pain reducing treatment and the method comprises the step of: determining and/or monitoring the efficacy of a pain treatment based on the treatment-induced evolution of the LoP.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the treatment is a pain treatment and the method comprises the step of: optimizing and/or adapting a pain treatment based on the treatment-induced evolution of the LoP.

13. A computer-implemented method for determining a treatment and/or determining an adjustment to a treatment and/or determining an intensity of a treatment, wherein the method comprises the steps of: measuring a LoP according to claim 1;determining a treatment and/or determining an adjustment to a treatment and/or determining an intensity of a treatment based on the measured LoP.

14. A system configured to measure a level of pain according to the method according to claim 1, the system comprising: a monitoring apparatus configured to obtain measured data comprising electroencephalogram, EEG, data collected from one or more EEG electrodes;a controller module configured for: receiving the measured data from the monitoring apparatus;extracting from the EEG data, a group 4 indicator corresponding to: a power, power (ta), associated with a theta-alpha frequency band, ta, within a theta-alpha frequency range, the theta-alpha frequency band consisting of a combination of at least part of a theta frequency band and at least part of an alpha frequency band; anddetermining, based on said group 4 indicator, a level of pain, LoP, which is a value indicative for the level of pain in the subject.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein the controller module is further configured for: extracting from the EEG data, a group 3 indicator corresponding to: a mean signal peak-to-peak amplitude, MSPA; anddetermining the LoP based on the group 4 indicator and at least the group 3 indicator.

16. A system according to claim 14, wherein the monitoring apparatus comprises, for obtaining measured data, one or more of: one or more EEG electrodes configured for collection of electroencephalogram, EEG, data;one or more frontal (F) EEG electrodes configured for collection of F-EEG electrode data from the scalp anatomical region corresponding to a frontal lobe of the subject,one or more parietal (P) EEG electrodes configured for collection of P-EEG electrode data from the scalp anatomical region corresponding to a parietal lobe of the subject,one or more central (C) EEG electrodes configured for collection of C-EEG electrode data from the scalp anatomical region corresponding to a precentral and postcentral gyrus of the subject;optionally an EMG capturing unit;optionally a heart rate capturing unit;optionally a respiratory data capturing unit.

17. The system according to claim 14, further comprising a graphical user interface, GUI, configured to indicate numerically and/or graphically one or more of: at least two LoP respectively measured at different points in time, preferably a historic, current and/or expected LoP.the evolution of and/or ratio between and/or aggregation of at least two LoP measured at different points in time;optionally, one or more components of the measured data, preferably one or more EEG data and optionally EMG data.