[Physiotherapy treatment of vegetative disorders in patients with voice disorders]. / Fizioterapevticheskaya korrektsiya vegetativnykh rasstroistv u bol'nykh s narusheniyami golosa.

OBJECTIVE: To increase the effectiveness of treatment of hypotonic functional dysphonia using physiotherapy in patients with neurovegetative disorders. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 42 patients, aged from 25 to 64 years, with disturbed vocal function, which included anamnestic analysis, an objective study of ENT organs by conventional methods, a video stroboscopy of the larynx, a cytological study of smears from the laryngeal mucosa, and the determination of the functional state of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). RESULTS: The clinical-physiological study of VNS shows neurovegetative dysfunction (inadequate autonomic support of activity) in 10 patients. In these patients, the traditional conservative treatment was ineffective. Acupuncture used for treatment of neurovegetative disorders in these patients significantly improves the results of traditional treatment. CONCLUSION: The results indicate an increase in the effectiveness of physiotherapy treatment (reflexotherapy using magnetic-infrared laser radiation and acupuncture) of ANS condition. These measures can be carried out in conjunction with traditional methods of treatment or in the case of their low efficiency.

[A crosscorrelation analysis of fluctuations in heart rate and breathing when diagnosing the autonomic disorders in patients with hypotonic type of functional dysphonia]. / Krosskorrelyatsionnyi analiz svyazi kolebanii serdechnogo ritma i dykhaniya v diagnostike vegetativnykh rasstroistv u bol'nykh s funktsional'noi disfoniei po gipotonusnomu tipu.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a cross-correlation analysis of the frequency of breathing and heart rhythm variability (HRV) in the diagnosis of autonomic disorders in patients with hypotonic type of functional dysphonia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-eight women, aged between 21 and 63 years, with hypotonic type of functional dysphonia were examined. The examination of patients included an analysis of anamnesis, an objective ENT study by common methods, videostroboscopy of the larynx, and determination of the functional state of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). RESULTS: It was shown that in such patients, HRV contains alternating RR-intervals, which reduce the correlation coefficient between breathing fluctuations and sinus respiratory arrhythmia. In the majority of patients, ANS dysfunction is detected in the form of insufficient autonomic activity support, while the correlation coefficients (Rc) provide additional information about the autonomic tone. At high values of the correlation coefficient, the autonomic tone is optimal or reduced, at low values (below 0,5) it is optimal or elevated. At the same time, the correlation coefficient, which tends to zero at normal indicators of the total HRV power, indicates the state of ANS tension, which is associated with increased autonomic tone and can be one of the causes of sinus respiratory arrhythmia. CONCLUSION: The crosscorrelation analysis of HRV and breathing in patients with hypotonic type of functional dysphonia is one of the quantitative methods of the diagnosis of vegetative dystonia.

Design, implementation and testing of an implantable impedance-based feedback-controlled neural gastric stimulator.

Functional neural gastrointestinal electrical stimulation (NGES) is a methodology of gastric electrical stimulation that can be applied as a possible treatment for disorders such as obesity and gastroparesis. NGES is capable of generating strong lumen-occluding local contractions that can produce retrograde or antegrade movement of gastric content. A feedback-controlled implantable NGES system has been designed, implemented and tested both in laboratory conditions and in an acute animal setting. The feedback system, based on gastric tissue impedance change, is aimed at reducing battery energy requirements and managing the phenomenon of gastric tissue accommodation. Acute animal testing was undertaken in four mongrel dogs (2 M, 2 F, weight 25.53 ± 7.3 kg) that underwent subserosal two-channel electrode implantation. Three force transducers sutured serosally along the gastric axis and a wireless signal acquisition system were utilized to record stimulation-generated contractions and tissue impedance variations respectively. Mechanically induced contractions in the stomach were utilized to indirectly generate a tissue impedance change that was detected by the feedback system. Results showed that increasing or decreasing impedance changes were detected by the implantable stimulator and that therapy can be triggered as a result. The implantable feedback system brings NGES one step closer to long term treatment of burdening gastric motility disorders in humans.

Comparative gastric motility study of Enterra ™ Therapy and neural gastric electrical stimulation in an acute canine model.

BACKGROUND: Gastric electrical stimulation (GES) is an avenue for treating gastroparesis and obesity by controlling gastric motility using electrically mediated gastric contractions. Neural gastrointestinal electrical stimulation (NGES) is a GES modality capable of producing strong lumen-occluding local gastric contractions. Conversely, Enterra ™ Therapy, a commercial implantable gastric electrical stimulator, has been utilized to treat symptoms of gastroparesis, but its nominal electrical parameters are not capable of generating lumen-occluding contractions. However, comparative studies between these two stimulation modalities are lacking. METHODS: Strain gauge transducers complemented by endoscopic monitoring have been utilized to register gastric contractions invoked with NGES and Enterra neurostimulators in four acute dogs. Mucosal and serosal electrode implantations, 'nominal' and 'maximum' electrical parameters, and longitudinal and transverse electrode placements have been tested with each neurostimulator type. KEY RESULTS: Strong lumen-occluding, circumferential contractions were induced with a wide variety of NGES parameters utilizing both transverse and longitudinal electrode configurations from the serosal side of the stomach. Similarly, local gastric contractions were observed with the Enterra neurostimulator programmed at its 'maximum' electrical parameters but only when utilizing transverse serosal electrode implantation. Under 'maximum' electrical parameters Enterra was not capable of producing registerable gastric contractions with longitudinally implanted serosal electrodes. Mucosal electrode implantations did not result in GES-invoked gastric contractions in both stimulation modalities. CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: Enterra Therapy is capable of producing gastric contractions under 'maximum' parameters and transverse electrode configuration. Neural gastrointestinal electrical stimulation produces stronger, lumen-occluding contractions under a wider range of electrode configurations and parameters.

Implantable functional gastrointestinal neurostimulation.

Neural Gastrointestinal Electrical Stimulation (NGES) is a new microprocessor-based method for invoking gastric or colonic contractions by generating multi-channel, high energy, high frequency waveforms. It has been shown that when applied to the lower stomach, NGES offers the possibility for enhancing propulsive peristalsis for the treatment of gastric motor dysfunctions, or for producing retrograde peristalsis for the treatment of obesity. When applied to the colon, NGES can be utilized either for propulsive control in severe constipation or for invoked retrograde contractility. This paper briefly discusses the implementation of an implantable neurostimulator and summarizes the performance of the NGES technique in acute tests on experimental animals and humans, and in chronic tests on animals. These experimental tests indicate that NGES is successful in accelerating gastric emptying of both liquids and solids, and in producing strong, externally-controlled, retrograde contractions.

Pilot acute study of feedback-controlled retrograde peristalsis invoked by neural gastric electrical stimulation.

Neural gastric electrical stimulation (NGES) is a new method for invoking gastric contractions under microprocessor control. However, optimization of this technique using feedback mechanisms to minimize power consumption and maximize effectiveness has been lacking. The present pilot study proposes a prototype feedback-controlled neural gastric electric stimulator for the treatment of obesity. Both force-based and inter-electrode impedance-based feedback neurostimulators were implemented and tested. Four mongrel dogs (2 M, 2 F, weight 14.9 +/- 2.3 kg) underwent subserosal implantation of two-channel, 1 cm, bipolar electrode leads and two force transducers in the distal antrum. Two of the dogs were stimulated with a force feedback system utilizing the force transducers, and the other two animals were stimulated utilizing an inter-electrode impedance-based feedback system utilizing the proximal electrode leads. Both feedback systems were able to recognize erythromycin-driven contractions of the stomach and were capable of overriding them with NGES-invoked retrograde contractions which exceeded the magnitudes of the erythromycin-driven contractions by an average of 100.6 +/- 33.5% in all animals. The NGES-invoked contractions blocked the erythromycin-driven contractions past the proximal electrode pair and induced temporary gastroparesis in the vicinity of the distal force transducer despite the continuing erythromycin infusion. The amplitudes of the erythromycin-invoked contractions in the vicinity of the proximal force transducer decreased abruptly by an average of 47.9 +/- 6.3% in all four dogs after triggering-invoked retrograde contractions, regardless of the specific feedback-controlled mechanism. The proposed technique could be helpful for retaining food longer in the stomach, thus inducing early satiety and diminishing food intake.