Numeric Investigation of Brain Tumor Influence on the Current Distributions during Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Numeric Investigation of Brain Tumor Influence on the Current Distributions during Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation 170 177 IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (TBME)

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Bo Song, Peng Wen, Tony Ahfock and Yan Li, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

This study constructed a series of high resolution realistic human head models with brain tumors and numerically investigated the influence of brain tumor’s location (superficial right frontal lobe and buried left occipital lobe) and grade (I, II, III and IV) on the current distributions under five electrode montages (F3-Fp2, C3-C4, C3-Fp2, P3-C4 and P3-Fp2) during tDCS. This work is supposed to be the first numerical study of tDCS applications on the patients with brain tumors and our stimulation result showed that it should be safe to treat the neuropsychiatric conditions and cancer pain caused by the brain tumor using tDCS, though considerable changes of the current distributions are induced by the present of a brain tumor. In addition, several observations on the global and local influences of tumor grade and possible edema have been made as well. These findings should be helpful for tDCS researchers and clinical doctors to understand the current distribution patterns in the brain with tumors and treat patients with anatomical distortions.

Keywords: tDCS, High Resolution Realistic Human Head Model, Current Distribution, Brain Tumor