Semi-Individualized electrical models in deep brain stimulation : A variability analysis

• Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a well-established treatment in neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. Parkinson's Disease. It consists of delivering electrical stimuli to a target in the brain via a chronically implanted lead. To expedite the tuning of DBS stimuli to best therapeutical effect, mathematical models have been developed during recent years. The electric field produced by the stimuli in the brain for a given lead position is evaluated by numerically solving a Partial Differential Equation with the medium conductivity as a parameter. The latter is patient- and target-specific but difficult to measure in vivo. Estimating brain tissue conductivity through medical imaging is feasible but time consuming due to registration, segmentation and post-processing. On the other hand, brain atlases are readily available and processed. This study analyzes how alternations in the conductivity due to inter-patient variability or lead position uncertainties affect both the stimulation shape and the activation of a given target. Results suggest that stimulation shapes are similar, with a Dice's Coefficient between 93.2 and 98.8%, with a higher similarity at lower depths. On the other hand, activation shows a significant variation of 17 percentage points, with most of it being at deeper positions as well. It is concluded that, as long as the lead is not too deep, atlases can be used for conductivity maps with acceptable accuracy instead of fully individualized though medical imaging models.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Reglerteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Control Engineering (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik -- Annan medicinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering -- Other Medical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

bioelectric phenomena

biological tissues

biomedical electrodes

brain

diseases

neurophysiology

partial differential equations

patient treatment

DBS stimuli

Parkinson disease

Partial Differential Equation

brain atlases

brain tissue conductivity

chronically implanted lead

deep brain stimulation

electric field

electrical stimuli

interpatient variability

medical imaging models

neurodegenerative diseases

semiIndividualized electrical models

variability analysis

Brain modeling

Computational modeling

Conductivity

Lead

Mathematical model

Satellite broadcasting

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)