Chronic pain affects one in three Americans and 1.5 billion people worldwide each year. When untreated, the condition can lead to several associated comorbidities like depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and eventually early mortality.
At the Human Fusions Institute, we’re asking: What if individuals with chronic pain syndrome could get back to a pain-free life?
We believe our Minimally Invasive Interfascicular Nerve Stimulation (MiiNS) system for chronic pain management is the answer. Developed by Dustin Tyler, PhD, an expert in the clinical translation of peripheral nerve stimulation technology, and his team, the MiiNS system will offer an alternative to systemic approaches that lead to pain medication abuse or invasive spinal cord simulations. Instead, MiiNS will interface with the embedded in the nerve channel itself to stop the sensation of pain at its source. The device will be inserted via an ultrasound guided injection in a physician's office making it easily accessible to patients.
We plan to first apply this technology to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a condition affecting 50,000 Americans each year following orthopedic or nerve injury, later expanding our focus to other neuropathic chronic pain afflications. With each, MiiNS will serve as an intervention before surgery and as an alternative to nerve block injections.
Ultimately, the MiiNS system will offer patients an effective, affordable and comfortable treatment for chronic pain that breaks the pattern of suffering and enhances quality of life.
Team Members:
- Dustin J. Tyler, PhD – Kent H. Smith II Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
- Jennifer Sweet, MD – neurosurgeon, Department of Neurological Surgery at UH
- Emily Graczyk, PhD – research assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, CWRU
- Razi Haque, PhD – Dir. Implantables Group, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
- Doug Shire, PhD – Founder, Bionic Eye, Ithaca, NY
- Fehmida Kapadia, PhD – Founder, Kapamed Consulting