Electrical Stimulation of Brain using a realistic 3D Human Head Model: Improvement of Spatial Focality

A. Datta, M. Elwassif, and M. Bikson

Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of the CUNY, New York, NY, USA
Published in 2008

We calculated the spatial distribution of the electric fields induced in the brain during transcranial current stimulation (TCS). The spatial focality obtained using ‘concentric-ring’ configurations is investigated using a realistic MRI derived 3D finite element model of the human head.

Two disc electrode configurations were simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics. The distant-bipolar configuration, which is comparable to commonly used TCS protocols, resulted in diffuse (un-focal) modulation. The reduced concentric-ring results in higher spatial focality at the expense of increased total surface current. Superficial cortical neurons may be thus selectively targeted using a concentric-ring configuration.

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