title: A new handheld electromagnetic cortical stimulator for brain mapping during open skull neurosurgery: a feasibility study.
abstract: Transcranial magnetic stimulations have provided invaluable tools for investigating nervous system functions in a preoperative context; in this paper we propose an innovative tool to extend the magnetic stimulation to an open skull context as a promising approach to map the brain cortex. The present gold standard for intraoperative functional mapping of the brain cortex, the direct brain stimulation, has a low spatial resolution and limited penetration and focusing capabilities. The magnetic stimulatory device that we present, is designed to overcome these limitations, while working with low currents and voltages. In the present work we propose an early study of feasibility, in which the possibility of exploiting a train of fast changing magnetic fields to reach the neuron's current thresholds is investigated. Measurements of electric field intensity at different distances from the coil, showed that the magnetic stimulator realized is capable of delivering an electric field on a loop of wire theoretically sufficient to evoke neuron's action potential, thus showing the approach' feasibility.
authors.forename: Jacopo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buzzi
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Momi
authors.forename: Francesco Maria
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Baratelli
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giacometti
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fiocchi
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parazzini
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ravazzani
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferrigno
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000601:surgery; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012886:Skull; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods