Improved field localization in transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain with the utilization of a conductive shield plate in the stimulator

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2006 Apr;53(4):720-5. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2006.870244.

Abstract

In this paper, a carefully designed conductive shield plate is presented, which helps to improve localization of the electric field distribution induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation for neuron stimulation. The shield plate is introduced between a figure-of-eight coil and the head. In order to accurately predict the field distribution inside the brain and to examine the effects of the shield plate, a realistic head model is constructed from magnetic resonance image data with the help of image processing tools and the finite-element method in three dimensions is employed. Finally, to show the improvements obtained, the results are compared with two conventional coil designs. It is found that an incorporation of the shield plate into the coil, effectively improves the induced field localization by more than 50%, and prevents other parts of the brain from exposure to high pulsed magnetic fields.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Brain / physiology*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Computer-Aided Design*
  • Electric Conductivity
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Head / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Models, Neurological*
  • Therapy, Computer-Assisted / instrumentation
  • Therapy, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / instrumentation*
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / methods
  • Transducers*