The electric field distributions in anatomical head models during transcranial direct current stimulation for post‐stroke rehabilitation

Abstract

The presence and the phase of an ischemic stroke lesion, as well as the configuration of electrode montages affect the distribution and the maximum value of the electric field induced in tissues. Moreover, patients whom seem to benefit most from tDCS are those in the chronic phase of an ischemic stroke, since contrasts in the tissue conductivity result in a higher electric field induced around the lesion volume, which could stimulate the remaining healthy tissue in the area.

Patient Semi-specific Computational Modeling of Electromagnetic Stimulation Applied to Neuroprotective Treatments in Acute Ischemic Stroke

“…Additionally, electromagnetic properties of the sphere were varied to take into account both acute and chronic phase of the stroke. Similar to what was found for the TMS, results in Manoli et al 38 showed that the presence and type of lesion affected the maximum value and the distribution of the field induced in the brain after exposure to tDCS. Moreover, Manoli and co-workers 38 demonstrated that patients in chronic phase benefit more from tDCS than patients in acute phase, given the higher contrast in tissue conductivity.…”

“…Similar to what was found for the TMS, results in Manoli et al 38 showed that the presence and type of lesion affected the maximum value and the distribution of the field induced in the brain after exposure to tDCS. Moreover, Manoli and co-workers 38 demonstrated that patients in chronic phase benefit more from tDCS than patients in acute phase, given the higher contrast in tissue conductivity. The limitation of both these studies is that they don't consider a realistic shape of the stroke, which becomes crucial when the dosimetric analysis is required to support a dose-response study on patient specific clinical treatment.…”

“…They demonstrated that a stroke can drastically affect TMS application, by altering the location of the maximum current density and modifying the focus of the stimulation. A similar approach was adopted to estimate the electric field distribution inside brain stroke patients receiving tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation) 38 . Here a generic spherical volume was placed inside the head of the human body models Ella and Glenn (Virtual Population -ViP 34,35 ), to simulate an ischemic lesion.…”

Scalp acupuncture plus low-frequency rTMS promotes repair of brain white matter tracts in hemiplegic patients with stroke: A diffusion tensor imaging study

“…Stable vital signs, clear consciousness; (4). Unilateral upper limb Brunnstrom evaluation: I-IV period; (5) Age from 20 to 80 years old; (6) The course of the diseases from 2 weeks to 6 months. The exclusion criteria for this study included the following: (1) A history of epilepsy; (2) Function failure in important organs such as heart, lung, liver, kidney, etc.…”

“…Motor dysfunction after stroke leads to a heavy financial pressure on the families. Post-stroke hemiplegic rehabilitation includes early rehabilitation treatment [2], routine treatment [3], computer aided rehabilitation training [4], secondary prevention by improving the life style [5], transcranial direct current stimulation [6], scalp acupuncture (SA) [7,8], repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) [9] and other interventions. When traditional Chi-nese treatment is combined with Western medicine rehabilitation therapy, it is more common that SA [10,11] and rTMS are used in hemiplegia rehabilitation after stroke.…”