US 12,390,659 B2
Apparatus and method for photobiomodulation-based alternative to electrical vagus nerve stimulation and deep brain stimulation related to movement disorders
Lew Lim, Toronto (CA)
Appl. No. 17/776,174
Filed by Lew Lim, Toronto (CA)
PCT Filed Oct. 27, 2020, PCT No. PCT/IB2020/060064
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 11, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/094860, PCT Pub. Date May 20, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/934,024, filed on Nov. 12, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0387819 A1, Dec. 8, 2022
Int. Cl. A61N 5/06 (2006.01)
CPC A61N 5/0622 (2013.01) [A61N 2005/0647 (2013.01); A61N 2005/066 (2013.01); A61N 2005/0663 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A self-administrable apparatus for performing non-invasive neurostimulation therapy of a living mammalian subject on-demand, said self-administrable apparatus comprising:
one or more configured irradiation units comprising a portable hollow casing having fixed dimensions, a sized internal spatial volume and an external surface configuration suitable for application to a body, said portable hollow casing of each configured irradiation unit being comprised of:
(i) a light energy transmitting material which forms at least a portion of the configured external surface for said hollow casing of each configured irradiation unit; and
(ii) at least one light generating unit housed and contained within said sized internal spatial volume of said hollow casing of each configured irradiation unit and which is capable of generating light energy of at least one preselected wavelength selected from a group consisting of near infrared light wavelengths and visible red light wavelengths, at a predetermined energy intensity and for a preset time duration on-demand sufficient to penetrate through skin and to pass into an interior part of the body,
whereby said one or more configured irradiation units can emit the light energy after application to the body and achieve passage of said emitted light energy through skin into an interior part of the body in-vivo;
a frame adapted for support of said one or more configured irradiation units and for at-will placement of said light energy transmitting material of the external surface of said one or more configured irradiation units at a fixed position and desired irradiation direction;
a controller assembly able to control on-demand delivery of the light energy from said one or more configured irradiation units into an interior part of the body in-vivo, said controller assembly including:
(a) a power source of on-demand direct electrical current,
(b) a central processing unit for controlling and directing the flow of such direct electrical current,
(c) at least one connector in electrical communication with the power source for on-demand conveyance of the direct electrical current to the central processing unit, and
(d) at least one connector in electrical communication with the one or more configured irradiation units for on-demand conveyance of the direct electrical current from said central processing unit to said at least one light generating unit;
wherein the frame is configured to position at least one of said configured irradiation units on a side of the neck of the subject to non-invasively stimulate a vagus nerve in the neck of the subject with the light energy.