1. Functional ultrasound imaging of the human spinal cord.
- Author
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Agyeman, K.A., Lee, D.J., Russin, J., Kreydin, E.I., Choi, W., Abedi, A., Lo, Y.T., Cavaleri, J., Wu, K., Edgerton, V.R., Liu, C., and Christopoulos, V.N.
- Subjects
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SPINAL cord , *ULTRASONIC imaging , *ELECTRIC stimulation , *BLOOD flow , *CLOSED loop systems - Abstract
Utilizing the first in-human functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) of the spinal cord, we demonstrate the integration of spinal functional responses to electrical stimulation. We record and characterize the hemodynamic responses of the spinal cord to a neuromodulatory intervention commonly used for treating pain and increasingly used for the restoration of sensorimotor and autonomic function. We found that the hemodynamic response to stimulation reflects a spatiotemporal modulation of the spinal cord circuitry not previously recognized. Our analytical capability offers a mechanism to assess blood flow changes with a new level of spatial and temporal precision in vivo and demonstrates that fUSI can decode the functional state of spinal networks in a single trial, which is of fundamental importance for developing real-time closed-loop neuromodulation systems. This work is a critical step toward developing a vital technique to study spinal cord function and effects of clinical neuromodulation. • Functional ultrasound imaging detects stimulation-induced responses in the spinal cord • fUSI decodes the effectiveness of an electrical stimulation in a single trial • A crucial step to study spinal cord function and effects of clinical neuromodulation Agyeman et al. leverage functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) to characterize human spinal cord activity during epidural electrical stimulation. They decode the stimulation's effectiveness to evoke hemodynamic changes at the single-trial level. This establishes fUSI as a promising platform for investigating spinal cord function and developing real-time closed-loop clinical neuromodulation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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