Methods to Compare Predicted and Observed Phosphene Experience in tACS Subjects

Background. Phosphene generation is an objective physical measure of potential transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) biological side effects. Interpretations from phosphene analysis can serve as a first step in understanding underlying mechanisms of tACS in healthy human subjects and assist validation of computational models. Objective/Hypothesis. This preliminary study introduces and tests methods to analyze predicted phosphene occurrence using computational head models constructed from tACS recipients against verbal testimonies of phosphene sensations. Predicted current densities in the eyes and the occipital lobe were also verified against previously published threshold values for phosphenes. Methods. Six healthy subjects underwent 10 Hz tACS while being imaged in an MRI scanner. Two different electrode montages, T7-T8 and Fpz-Oz, were used. Subject ratings of phosphene experience were collected during tACS and compared against current density distributions predicted in eye and occipital lobe regions of interest (ROIs) determined for each subject. Calculated median current densities in each ROI were compared to minimum thresholds for phosphene generation. Main Results. All subjects reported phosphenes, and predicted median current densities in ROIs exceeded minimum thresholds for phosphenes found in the literature. Higher current densities in the eyes were consistently associated with decreased phosphene generation for the Fpz-Oz montage. There was an overall positive association between phosphene perceptions and current densities in the occipital lobe. Conclusions. These methods may have promise for predicting phosphene generation using data collected during in-scanner tACS sessions and may enable better understanding of phosphene origin. Additional empirical data in a larger cohort is required to fully test the robustness of the proposed methods. Future studies should include additional montages that could dissociate retinal and occipital stimulation

Numerical Simulations of MREIT Conductivity Imaging for Brain Tumor Detection

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) is a new modality capable of imaging the electrical properties of human body using MRI phase information in conjunction with external current injection. Recent in vivo animal and human MREIT studies have revealed unique conductivity contrasts related to different physiological and pathological conditions of tissues or organs. When performing in vivo brain imaging, small imaging currents must be injected so as not to stimulate peripheral nerves in the skin, while delivery of imaging currents to the brain is relatively small due to the skull’s low conductivity. As a result, injected imaging currents may induce small phase signals and the overall low phase SNR in brain tissues. In this study, we present numerical simulation results of the use of head MREIT for brain tumor detection. We used a realistic three-dimensional head model to compute signal levels produced as a consequence of a predicted doubling of conductivity occurring within simulated tumorous brain tissues. We determined the feasibility of measuring these changes in a time acceptable to human subjects by adding realistic noise levels measured from a candidate 3 T system. We also reconstructed conductivity contrast images, showing that such conductivity differences can be both detected and imaged