Apparatus and method for treatment of pain with body impedance analyzer

Abstract

A patient treatment unit and method analyzes and treats pain in tissues by applying an electrical pulse train to the affected tissue. The impedance of the affected tissue is measured, and the measured impedance is correlated to a level of pain in the patient. The pulse train is further applied in response to the measured impedance to reduce the patient's pain. The patient treatment unit includes a probe stimulus generator that outputs the pulse train. The treatment unit also includes a pair of probes for contacting the patient's body and receiving the pulse train. The pulse has improved shaping based on isolation of high voltage from a low voltage control. The unit further includes a body impedance analysis circuit that senses voltage and current via the probes when the probes are contacting the patient and observe the impedance. A monitor is electrically coupled to the body impedance analysis circuit and provides an indication of the measured impedance indicative of the patient's level of pain in real-time.

1 . A patient treatment unit for analyzing and treating pain in human or animal tissues, the treatment unit comprising:
 a probe stimulus generator circuit that outputs a sequence of electrical pulses, the electrical pulses having a pulse width and a pulse frequency, the probe stimulus generator controlling the pulse frequency and the pulse width of the electrical pulses;   a primary vibrating spherical probe and a secondary spherical probe for contacting a body of a patient and electrically coupled to the probe stimulus generator to receive the sequence of electrical pulses;   a body impedance analysis circuit that senses voltage or current via the primary vibrating spherical probe and the secondary spherical probe in real-time as the sequence of electrical pulses are applied to the tissues when the probes are contacting the body of the patient;   a monitor device electrically coupled to the body impedance analysis circuit that provides an indication of the sensed voltage or current as an impedance measurement in real-time as the sequence of electrical pulses are applied to the tissues; and   a display device that plots the impedance measurement graphically in real-time.   
     
     
         2 - 18 . (canceled)