Neuromodulation techniques
The subject matter of the present disclosure generally relates to techniques for following a treatment protocol having one or more treatment parameters to cause a targeted physiological outcome at a distal site, assessing an expression level of a gene in a region of interest after completing the treatment protocol, and modifying the one or more treatment parameters based on the expression level of the gene. The treatment protocol may include one or more ultrasound energy treatments to the region of interest.
1. A method for applying ultrasound energy treatments, comprising:
receiving, at a controller of an energy application treatment system, one or more inputs indicative of respective concentrations of one or more molecules at a distal site relative to a region of interest of a subject;
determining that at least one of the respective concentrations of the one or more molecules are not within a respective threshold range associated with a treatment protocol for applying non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment to the region of interest of the subject using an energy application device;
adjusting, after an initial non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment is applied to the region of interest, a time of a recovery period included in the treatment protocol before applying subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment to the region of interest in response to determining that the at least one of the respective concentrations of the one or more molecules are not within the respective threshold range; and
operating the energy application device based on the treatment protocol to apply the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment after the adjusting the time of the recovery period.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more inputs are received from an assessment device communicatively coupled to the controller.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein operating the energy application device based on the treatment protocol to apply the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment after the adjusting the time of the recovery period comprises preventing the energy application device from applying the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment during the adjusted time of the recovery period.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more inputs indicative of the concentration of the one or more molecules at the distal site in the subject comprise a first measurement of tissue size at the distal site, a second measurement of tissue displacement at the distal site, or both, after an initial non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment is applied to the region of interest.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first measurement, the second measurement, or both, are received from an imaging device communicatively coupled to the controller.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing the controller to adjust one or more modulation parameters associated with the energy application device before applying the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment to the region of interest.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more modulation parameters comprise a frequency of a pulse applied by the energy application device during the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment, an amplitude of the pulse applied by the energy application device during the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment, a width of the pulse applied by the energy application device during the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment, a quantity of energy applied by the energy application device during the subsequent non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment, or a combination thereof.
8. A method applying ultrasound energy treatments, comprising:
receiving one or more inputs indicative of respective concentrations of one or more molecules at a distal site relative to a region of interest of a subject;
determining that at least one of the respective concentrations of the one or more molecules are not within a respective threshold range;
determining a time of a recovery period to apply between non-invasive ultrasound energy treatments to the region of interest, wherein the determination of the time of the recovery period is based on at least the respective concentrations of the one or more molecules that are not within the respective threshold range; and
operating an energy application device to apply non-invasive ultrasound energy treatments, wherein operating the energy application device to apply non-invasive ultrasound energy treatments comprises preventing the energy application device from applying non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment during the recovery period.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising dynamically adjusting the time of the recovery period based on updated inputs indicative of respective concentrations of the one or more molecules at the distal site.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more inputs are received from an assessment device in a feedback loop.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the respective concentrations of the one or more molecules are indicative of a circulating glucose concentration of the subject.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the respective concentrations of the one or more molecules are indicative of a first expression level of one or more genes, a second expression level of RNA, or both.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more molecules comprise one or more markers indicative of a metabolic pathway, an anti-inflammatory pathway, a neurotransmitter production pathway, a neural pathway, or a combination thereof.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more molecules comprises a nucleic acid, a protein, a cytokine, a neurotransmitter, a neuropeptide, a peptide transmitter, a catecholamine, a cholinesterase, or a combination thereof.
15. A method applying ultrasound energy treatments, comprising:
applying a first non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment to a region of interest of a subject according to a treatment protocol to cause a characteristic profile of changes in the subject, wherein the treatment protocol comprises a recovery period between subsequent energy treatments;
receiving one or more inputs indicative of respective concentrations of the one or more molecules at a distal site in the subject;
determining that at least one of the respective concentrations of one or more molecules differs from the characteristic profile of changes;
adjusting a time of the recovery period before applying a second non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment to the region of interest in response to determining that at least one of the respective concentrations of the one or more molecules differs from the characteristic profile of changes; and
applying the second non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment after the time of the recovery period is adjusted.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the characteristic profile of changes comprises an increase in a first concentration of a first molecule of the one or more molecules and a decrease in a second concentration of a second molecule of the one or more molecules.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the characteristic profile of changes comprises an increase in a first concentration of a first molecule of the one or more molecules and a lack of substantial change in a second concentration of a second molecule of the one or more molecules.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the characteristic profile of changes comprises a decrease in a first concentration of a first molecule of the one or more molecules and a lack of substantial change in a second concentration of a second molecule of the one or more molecules.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more inputs indicative of respective concentrations of the one or more molecules at the distal site are received from an assessment device, and wherein the one or more inputs comprise a first measurement of tissue size at the distal site, a second measurement of tissue displacement at the distal site, or both.
20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving respective baseline concentrations of the one or more molecules before applying the first non-invasive ultrasound energy treatment.