RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an established therapy for treating a variety of chronic diseases, such as epilepsy, depression, obesity, and for stroke rehabilitation. However, lack of precision and side-effects have hindered its efficacy and extension to new conditions. Achieving a better understanding of the relationship between VNS parameters and neural and physiological responses is therefore necessary to enable the design of personalized dosing procedures and improve precision and efficacy of VNS therapies. METHODS: We used biomarkers from recorded evoked fiber activity and short-term physiological responses (throat muscle, cardiac and respiratory activity) to understand the response to a wide range of VNS parameters in anaesthetised pigs. Using signal processing, Gaussian processes (GP) and parametric regression models we analyse the relationship between VNS parameters and neural and physiological responses. RESULTS: Firstly, we illustrate how considering multiple stimulation parameters in VNS dosing can improve the efficacy and precision of VNS therapies. Secondly, we describe the relationship between different VNS parameters and the evoked fiber activity and show how spatially selective electrodes can be used to improve fiber recruitment. Thirdly, we provide a detailed exploration of the relationship between the activations of neural fiber types and different physiological effects. Finally, based on these results, we discuss how recordings of evoked fiber activity can help design VNS dosing procedures that optimize short-term physiological effects safely and efficiently. CONCLUSION: Understanding of evoked fiber activity during VNS provide powerful biomarkers that could improve the precision, safety and efficacy of VNS therapies.
RESUMO
Objective.In bioelectronic medicine, neuromodulation therapies induce neural signals to the brain or organs, modifying their function. Stimulation devices capable of triggering exogenous neural signals using electrical waveforms require a complex and multi-dimensional parameter space to control such waveforms. Determining the best combination of parameters (waveform optimization or dosing) for treating a particular patient's illness is therefore challenging. Comprehensive parameter searching for an optimal stimulation effect is often infeasible in a clinical setting due to the size of the parameter space. Restricting this space, however, may lead to suboptimal therapeutic results, reduced responder rates, and adverse effects.Approach. As an alternative to a full parameter search, we present a flexible machine learning, data acquisition, and processing framework for optimizing neural stimulation parameters, requiring as few steps as possible using Bayesian optimization. This optimization builds a model of the neural and physiological responses to stimulations, enabling it to optimize stimulation parameters and provide estimates of the accuracy of the response model. The vagus nerve (VN) innervates, among other thoracic and visceral organs, the heart, thus controlling heart rate (HR), making it an ideal candidate for demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach.Main results.The efficacy of our optimization approach was first evaluated on simulated neural responses, then applied to VN stimulation intraoperatively in porcine subjects. Optimization converged quickly on parameters achieving target HRs and optimizing neural B-fiber activations despite high intersubject variability.Significance.An optimized stimulation waveform was achieved in real time with far fewer stimulations than required by alternative optimization strategies, thus minimizing exposure to side effects. Uncertainty estimates helped avoiding stimulations outside a safe range. Our approach shows that a complex set of neural stimulation parameters can be optimized in real-time for a patient to achieve a personalized precision dosing.