Chapter 10 - Electrodes for electrical conduction block of the peripheral nerve

Abstract

Many neurological disorders are caused by pathological neuronal firing leading to adverse effects mediated through the innervated end organs. Examples are chronic pain, motor impairments, abnormal postures of the limb and torso, and spasticity due to lesions in the brain or the spinal cord. These pathologies are manifested in stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and amputation neuromas. Medical treatment is based on a hierarchy of increasingly invasive modalities. There is still a need for a reliable, fast-acting, nontoxic, and reversible method of nerve block for many of these neurological conditions. Kilohertz frequency alternating current nerve block and direct current nerve block offer this type of therapy. This chapter describes the design of nerve based electrodes that are suitable for these two types of electrical nerve block.