Automatized Procedure to Shape a Regional Personalized Electrode for Transcranial Electrical Stimulation

Objective: The purpose of this study is to obtain/create/develop an automatized procedure to personalize electrodes for transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) using individual brain magnetic resonance images (MRI). The electrode thus matches the individual cortical folding of the whole body bilateral primary somatosensory cortex (S1RePE). The selection of a specific regional brain target is a crucial part of any neuromodulation intervention, which is a promising tool in the enhancement of recovery from neurological or psychiatric damages. Methods: By employing highly standardized MRI analysis software, we developed an automatized procedure for S1RePE shaping. We applied this procedure in 14 healthy people and assessed the accuracy of the procedure by comparing the automatized S1RePE with that which was manually traced in individual brain 3D MRI. Results: In all subjects, the automatic and manual procedures were highly consistent, with mean Euclidean distance of 2.3 mm and mean intra-class correlation 0.995. Conclusion: We successfully developed an automatized procedure, which is simpler, more replicable and requires less time than the procedure used up to this point in shaping S1RePE. Significance: We provide an automatic procedure using the individual cerebral MRI exam to shape a tES personalized electrode that matches the individual cortical folding. This automatic procedure can be adapted to any cortical region in the case that a specific cortical sulcus demarcates it.