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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a well-established treatment for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia. It has also been successfully applied to treat various other neurological and psychiatric conditions including depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Numerous computational models, mostly based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) approach have been suggested to investigate the biophysical mechanisms of electromagnetic wave-tissue interaction during DBS. These models, although emphasizing the importance of various electrical and geometrical parameters, mostly have used simplified geometries over a tightly restricted tissue volume in the case of monopolar stimulation. In the present work we show that topological arrangements and geometrical properties of the model have a significant effect on the distribution of voltages in the concerned tissues. The results support reconsidering the current approach for modeling monopolar DBS which uses a restricted cubic area extended a few centimeters around the active electrode to predict the volume of activated tissue. We propose a new technique called multi-resolution FEM modeling, which may improve the accuracy of the prediction of volume of activated tissue and yet be computationally tractable on personal computers.
Katrin Beyer, Radhakrishna Achanta, Bryan German Pantoja Rosero
Constantin Tuleasca, David Paul Roger Romascano, Damien Schneider
Silvestro Micera, Simone Romeni