Modeling and simulation of deep brain stimulation electrodes with various active contacts

Abstract

Deep brain stimulation provides electrical stimulation to the target brain region through implant electrode. Some of the electrodes cannot produce desired field distribution for greater therapeutic efficacy because of their configuration. This paper aims at analyzing electric field distribution for electrodes with various combinations of active contacts to get an optimum electrode for greater therapeutic efficacy of the neurological patients. Various electrode configurations including monopolar, bipolar, tripolar, and quadripolar are simulated by COMSOL multiphysics (5.0 a). The potential distribution is calculated by using Laplace’s equation. The current density on the electrode contacts is determined by integrating the total amount of current delivered by the electrode. The simulation results confirm that tripolar electrode configuration provides highly concentrated electric field distribution and electrical current at the surface of the electrodes than the rest of the configurations. The tripolar electrode configuration can localize the current delivery into specific populations of neurons to avoid undesirable axon activation. Hence, it can be applied to obtain maximum therapeutic efficacy for particular neurological disorders.