Method and apparatus to record and analyze tms treatments and results

Abstract

A treatment apparatus configured to treat a patient for a neurological disorder comprises a patient interface configured for the patient to enter data for an assessment of his or her subjective sensations, for example pain symptoms associated with migraines. The subjective patient sensation data may comprise at least one of a patient symptom of the neurological condition or a patient trigger of the neurological condition. For example the subjective patient sensations may comprise symptoms that correspond to migraine such as aura symptoms. The treating physician can view the subjective patient data, and diagnose and treat the patient with a treatment plan by writing a treatment plan to a storage device, for example treatment instructions written to a smart card. The storage device can be delivered to the treatment apparatus such that the patient can be treated in response to physician's treatment plan.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a casing configured to be held in a patient's hand so that the patient can lift and place the casing near the back of the at least one of a head and a neck of the patient for treatment;   a patient interface on an external surface of the casing positioned on the casing to be visible and accessible to the patient when the casing is held in the patient's hands;   at least one processor having a memory and operatively connected to both circuitry and the patient interface, wherein the processor and the circuitry are located within the casing and produce a treatment output in response to subjective patient data input through the patient interface and a program embodied in the memory of the processor; and   a coil within the casing, said coil being operatively connected to the circuitry to generate a magnetic field in response to the treatment output produced by the processor and circuitry, wherein the magnetic field treats patient migraine headache sensations.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the at least one processor is configured to control treatment of the patient and to record and store the treatment data and subjective patient data. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein the interface is configured to allow the patient to input subjective patient data including patient sensations, patient symptoms, and patient triggers selected from pain level, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, and nausea. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein is programmed with instructions to display a plurality of journal entry menus on the display for the patient to enter the plurality of subjective patient migraine sensations at each of a plurality of patient data entry times. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4  wherein the plurality of subjective patient sensations includes a first plurality of subjective patient sensations corresponding to a first time and a second plurality of subjective patient sensations corresponding to a second time. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein (1) the first plurality of subjective patient sensations includes at least one of a first pain level, a first sensitivity to light level, a first sensitivity to sound level, a first nausea level a first aura level or a first neck stiffness level and (2) the second plurality of subjective patient sensations comprises at least one of a second pain level, a second sensitivity to light level, a second sensitivity to sound level, a second nausea level, a second aura level or a second neck stiffness level. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the patient interface comprises a touch screen display coupled to the at least one processor for the patient to enter the plurality of subjective patient sensations in response to a plurality of selectable icons shown on the display for each sensation to determine a level of said each sensation. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7  wherein the at least one processor is configured to show on the display sequentially a first plurality of selectable icons for a first sensation and a second plurality of selectable icons for a second sensation. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the at least one processor and the patient interface are configured to allow the patient to select one level from among a plurality of patient levels for each sensation and wherein the at least one processor is configured to record the one level for each sensation. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the at least one processor comprises a non-volatile memory configured to record the plurality of subjective patient sensations in response to input from the patient and to record a treatment time for each treatment with the magnetic field. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a clock configured to record a treatment time when the patient is treated and an entry time when the patient enters the plurality of subjective patient sensations. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a patient specific module configured to permit treatment of the patient. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the casing has a receptacle coupled configured to receive the patient specific module and the patient specific module is configured to be coupled to the processor and at least partly control treatment of the patient when the patient specific module is inserted into the receptacle. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the patient specific module provides a unique patient identifier and wherein the at least one processor is configured to permit patient treatment only when the unique patient module identifier corresponds to a unique apparatus identifier. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the patient specific module provides instructions to treat the patient. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the instructions to treat the patient are configured to customize each treatment with at least one of a pulse width, a pulse peak or a number of pulses, in response to input from a physician. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the instructions to treat the patient include a number of available treatments stored on the second tangible medium and wherein the at least one processor is configured to decrease the number of available treatments stored on the second tangible medium each time the patient is treated. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the instructions to treat the patient are configured to allow no more than a maximum number of pulses over a period of time. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the instructions to treat the patient are configured in response to input from a physician who provides care for the patient. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the instructions to treat the patient are configured to customize each treatment with at least one of a pulse width, a pulse peak or a number of pulses and wherein the instructions are stored on a second tangible medium in response to treatment input commands from the physician.