New stimulation design for neuromodulation

Abstract

The present application relates to a new stimulation design which can be utilized to treat neurological conditions. The stimulation system produces a burst mode stimulation which alters the neuronal activity of the predetermined site, thereby treating the neurological condition or disorder. The burst stimulus comprises a plurality of groups of spike pulses having a maximum inter-spike interval of 100 milliseconds. The burst stimulus is separated by a substantially quiescent period of time between the plurality of groups of spike pulses. This inter-group interval may comprise a minimum of 5 seconds.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An implantable system for stimulating nerve tissue of a patient the system comprising:
 an implantable stimulation lead comprising one or more electrodes; and   an implantable pulse generator for generating electrical pulses for application to nerve tissue of a patient, wherein the implantable pulse generator is configured to: (1) generate a burst stimulus that comprises a repeating pattern of a plurality of groups of pulses, wherein the burst stimulus is substantially quiescent between each adjacent group of pulses, wherein pulses within each group of pulses are repeated at a pulse rate of between approximately 200 Hz and 1000 Hz and groups of pulses within the plurality of groups are repeated at a group rate between approximately 30 Hz and 70 Hz, wherein groups of pulses within the burst stimulus are adapted to apply temporal summation of stimulation to cause (a) a group of stimulated neurons to experience spiking from multiple pulses of each respective group of pulses and (b) the group of stimulated neurons to exhibit amplitude ramping for multiple spikes induced by each respective group of pulses; and (2) apply the burst stimulus to nerve tissue of the patient using one or more electrodes of the implantable stimulation lead to treat chronic pain of the patient.