Clinician accessible tools for GUI computational models of transcranial electrical stimulation: BONSAI and SPHERES.
Computational models of brain current flow during transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), including transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), are increasingly used to understand and optimize clinical trials. We propose that broad dissemination requires a simple graphical user interface (GUI) software that allows users to explore and design montages in real-time, based on their own clinical/experimental experience and objectives. We introduce two complimentary open-source platforms for this purpose: BONSAI and SPHERES. BONSAI is a web (cloud) based application (available at neuralengr.com/bonsai) that can be accessed through any flash-supported browser interface. SPHERES (available at neuralengr.com/spheres) is a stand-alone GUI application that allow consideration of arbitrary montages on a concentric sphere model by leveraging an analytical solution. These open-source tES modeling platforms are designed go be upgraded and enhanced. Trade-offs between open-access approaches that balance ease of access, speed, and flexibility are discussed.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: dtruong01@ccny.cuny.edu.
Dennis Q
DQ
Truong
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Mathias
M
Hüber
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Xihe
X
Xie
Soterix Medical Inc., New York, NY, USA.
Abhishek
A
Datta
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Asif
A
Rahman
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Lucas C
LC
Parra
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Jacek P
JP
Dmochowski
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Marom
M
Bikson
D022126:Access to Information; D001921:Brain; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D012984:Software; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; D014584:User-Computer Interface
Dose; Modeling; Open access; Transcranial alternating current stimulation; Transcranial direct current stimulation; Transcranial electrical stimulation