Customization of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for susceptible populations including at the extremes of age, obesity, and stroke

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulatory technique that delivers low-intensity currents facilitating or inhibiting spontaneous neuronal activity. Such noninvasive electrotherapies have a number of advantages that have been exploited in clinical practice; in particular, tDCS dose is easily customized by varying electrode number, position, size, shape, and current. Recent developments in computational models have further customized dose to individual subjects and cases. Finite Element Method models developed from high-resolution MRI scans are among the tools available today. Designing and interpreting these models while aware of their limitations can contribute to the rational design of electrotherapy as evidenced in studies combining computer modeling and clinical data. Here we present an overview of methods and protocols in the generation of computational forward models of tDCS, as well as results of computational analyses performed in our laboratory and their use in susceptible populations, such as in subjects with skull defects, obesity or after stroke. Though modeling for non-invasive brain stimulation is still in its development phase, it is predicted that with increased validation, dissemination, simplification and democratization of modeling tools, computational forward models of neuromodulation will become useful tools to guide the optimization of clinical electrotherapy.
Source: BRAIN STIMULATION: Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research in Neuromodulation - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Abstracts Presented at NYC Neuromodulation 2013 Source Type: research