Conductive gel bridge sensor for motion tracking in simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Imaging
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Electroencephalography-functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) aids in localizing neural activity and evaluating refractory epilepsy.
• EEG recordings in EEG-fMRI are susceptible to motion artifacts, complicating scan interpretation.
• Current motion correction techniques often require specialized hardware or modifications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a simple, hardware-independent method for detecting motion artifacts during EEG-fMRI.
• To validate the efficacy of the conductive gel bridge sensor (CGBS) in distinguishing brain activity from motion-induced artifacts.

Main Methods:

• Development and application of a conductive gel bridge sensor (CGBS) within a standard EEG-fMRI setup.
• Utilizing CGBS to differentiate between epochs of neural activity and motion artifacts in patient data.
• Case examples from two epilepsy patients undergoing EEG-fMRI.

Main Results:

• The CGBS effectively detected motion artifacts in EEG-fMRI recordings.
• The method successfully differentiated between true brain activity and movement-induced artifacts.
• Demonstrated feasibility in clinical epilepsy cases.

Conclusions:

• The conductive gel bridge sensor (CGBS) offers a simple and effective solution for motion artifact detection in EEG-fMRI.
• This method enhances the interpretability of EEG-fMRI scans, particularly in pre-surgical epilepsy evaluations.
• CGBS integration requires no additional equipment, making it a practical tool for routine use.