title: Transcranial current stimulation focality using disc and ring electrode configurations: FEM analysis.
abstract: We calculated the electric fields induced in the brain during transcranial current stimulation (TCS) using a finite-element concentric spheres human head model. A range of disc electrode configurations were simulated: (1) distant-bipolar; (2) adjacent-bipolar; (3) tripolar; and three ring designs, (4) belt, (5) concentric ring, and (6) double concentric ring. We compared the focality of each configuration targeting cortical structures oriented normal to the surface ('surface-radial' and 'cross-section radial'), cortical structures oriented along the brain surface ('surface-tangential' and 'cross-section tangential') and non-oriented cortical surface structures ('surface-magnitude' and 'cross-section magnitude'). For surface-radial fields, we further considered the 'polarity' of modulation (e.g. superficial cortical neuron soma hyper/depolarizing). The distant-bipolar configuration, which is comparable with commonly used TCS protocols, resulted in diffuse (un-focal) modulation with bi-directional radial modulation under each electrode and tangential modulation between electrodes. Increasing the proximity of the two electrodes (adjacent-bipolar electrode configuration) increased focality, at the cost of more surface current. At similar electrode distances, the tripolar-electrodes configuration produced comparable peak focality, but reduced radial bi-directionality. The concentric-ring configuration resulted in the highest spatial focality and uni-directional radial modulation, at the expense of increased total surface current. Changing ring dimensions, or use of two concentric rings, allow titration of this balance. The concentric-ring design may thus provide an optimized configuration for targeted modulation of superficial cortical neurons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York of the City University of New York, NY 10031, USA.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Maged
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elwassif
authors.forename: Fortunato
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Battaglia
authors.forename: Marom
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bikson
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006257:Head / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*