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Increasing target engagement via customized electrode positioning for personalized transcranial electrical
Griffin Rodgers1, Mahyar Joodaki2, Alois Hopf2
1Bottneuro AG, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Allschwil, Switzerland.
Neuroimage
|April 14, 2025
Summary
Flexible electrode positioning in 3D-printed transcranial electric stimulation (TES) caps enhances brain targeting for neurological disorders like Alzheimer's. This personalized approach improves stimulation precision and control compared to conventional methods.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Biomedical Engineering
- Medical Physics
Background:
- Transcranial electric stimulation (TES) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique with therapeutic potential for neurological disorders.
- Conventional TES montages have variable electric fields due to anatomical differences, limiting treatment efficacy.
- Individualized biophysical modeling is used for montage planning but often relies on fixed electrode positions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the benefits of flexible electrode positioning using 3D-printed neurostimulator caps.
- To investigate enhanced targeting and dose control in transcranial electric stimulation.
Main Methods:
- Simulated transcranial electric stimulation (TES) montages for 10 healthy subjects targeting the left angular gyrus.
- Compared flexible electrode placement against conventional montage selection approaches.
- Utilized quantitative metrics and visual inspection for benchmarking.
Main Results:
- Personalized montages with flexible electrodes offered tunable intensity and focality-intensity trade-off, outperforming conventional methods.
- Significantly reduced stimulation intensity variance in the target compared to reference model optimization.
- Increased electrode positions from 32 to 86 enhanced target engagement.
Conclusions:
- 3D-printed TES caps with flexible electrode positioning provide a proof-of-concept for increased target engagement.
- Achieved precise and tunable control over the applied dose to cortical targets.
- Relevant for stimulating brain networks like the default mode network.
Keywords:
3D-printingBiophysical modelingElectrode positioningTarget engagementTranscranial electrical stimulation
