Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Biography

Biography: David C Jiles

Abstract

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive, surgery free and safe neuromodulation technique that uses time varying magnetic fields to alter the functions of a targeted brain region. TMS has been FDA approved for the treatment of major depressive disorder by stimulating the left dorsolateral pre-frontal. Many neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder originate from the deeper parts of the brain. With increase in median age of the population, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is becoming common. In order to treat these disorders non-invasively, deep TMS is critically needed. Magnetic field generated from the TMS coil decays rapidly with distance from the surface of the coil. This makes it challenging to apply stronger magnetic fields at deeper regions of the brain. We have developed novel family of coil configurations called the “Halo Coil”and“Triple Halo Coil” which increase the fields in the deeper regions of the brain by reducing the decay rate from the field coil placed on top of the head. The first generation “Halo Coil” can induce a field of 3 times higher at 10cm depth than the single circular coil. The second generation “Triple Halo Coil” can generate a field of 12 times higher than the circular coil at a depth of 15cm. We have used an anatomically realistic head model considering different electrical and magnetic properties of tissues for the determination of electric and magnetic fields inside the brain. We have verified our calculation by magnetic field measurements around the TMS coils.