FEM-based investigation of spatial stimulation properties of a multi-electrode probe with micrometer-size electrodes for cortical and DBS applications

Abstract

Deep-brain stimulation (DBS) probes in today's clinical applications use four to six mm-size contacts to electrically influence the neuronal networking activity in a target brain area. While the treatment is successful for applications such as Parkinson's disease and tremor, unwanted side effects are observed mainly originating from the non-selective stimulation of a large tissue volume around the electrodes. Micro-fabrication techniques allow a larger number of μm-size contacts which can be used for stimulation and recording enabling closed-loop operation. Starting from a set of fabricated and characterized probes with 10 electrode contacts, we investigate here the spatial stimulation properties for different electrode shapes and topologies in a layered tissue model using a finite-element modeling and simulation approach. Results indicate the potential of μm-size topologies to be used for spatial stimulation patterns. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.