EP1447045A1 — Method and apparatus for measuring the degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex

USPTO Abstract

In a method and an apparatus for measuring the degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex, scalp potentials or magnetic fields of a subject are measured by mounting a plurality of sensors (2) on the head of the subject, the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields are converted into numerical data to obtain a dipolarity at each sampling, mean values of squared errors, within a fixed time interval, between a scalp potential or a magnetic field by an equivalent dipole at a dipolarity peak emergence time and the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields, or variances of the squared errors from the mean values are obtained for the sensors, and a contour concerning a distribution of the mean values or the variances on a scalp or a brain surface corresponding thereto is mapped as an output. Alternatively, the squares of potentials sensed by the sensors are averaged for several seconds, and variances of these mean values are obtained for numerous reference persons.