Method and system for displaying the electric field generated on the brain by transcranial magnetic stimulation

摘要

A visualization surface representative of a portion of the brain at a depth below the head surface of the subject is generated by combining an actual representation of the head surface with an idealized representation of the head surface. The combining is a function of the depth and is performed to minimize in the visualization surface any irregularities existing in the actual head surface of the subject. A display shows the visualization surface overlaid on a volumetric image of the brain, the electric field induced on a region of the visualization surface by a transcranial magnetic stimulation (“TMS”) induction coil device positioned above the head surface and the TMS coil device. By viewing the display, a user of the TMS coil device can interactively position the TMS coil device in relation to the head surface and, for a target site on the brain at a selected depth, determine the position at which the TMS coil device induces a maximum E-field on a visualization surface corresponding to the selected depth.

主权项

1. An apparatus for generating a representation of a portion of a brain for use in transcranial magnetic stimulation (“TMS”) comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium having a process encoded thereon including the steps of:generating an actual representation of a head surface of a head,generating an idealized representation of the head surface,weighting the actual and idealized representations with first and second weightings, respectively, wherein the first and second weightings are a function of a depth beneath the head surface,combining the weighted actual and weighted idealized representations to form an unscaled visualization surface, wherein the visualization surface is representative of a portion of the brain within the head at the depth,scaling the unscaled visualization surface based on the depth to generate the visualization surface, andproviding for display of the visualization surface, anda processor configured to perform said process stored on said computer readable medium.