title: An image-guided transcranial direct current stimulation system: a pilot phantom study.
abstract: In this study, an image-guided transcranial direct current stimulation (IG-tDCS) system that can deliver an increased stimulation current to a target brain area without the need to adjust the location of an active electrode was implemented. This IG-tDCS system was based on the array-type tDCS concept, which was validated through computer simulations in a previous study. Unlike a previous study, the present IG-tDCS system adopts a single reference electrode and an active electrode array consisting of 16 (4 × 4) sub-electrodes. The proposed IG-tDCS system is capable of shaping current flow inside the human head by controlling the input currents of the arrayed electrodes. Once a target brain area has been selected, the optimal injection current of each arrayed sub-electrode is evaluated automatically using a genetic algorithm in order to deliver the maximum available current to the target area. The operation of our pilot system was confirmed through a simple phantom experiment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA.
authors.forename: Young-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Jung-Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Daejeong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chang-Hwan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Im
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted