9 / 2021-08-24 15:54:43

Water content-based conductivity mapping for TMS coil design using magnetic resonance imaging

conductivity mapping, MRI, TMS coil, water content

The transmit coil plays a crucial role in the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique. It generates a magnetic field and induces an electric current in the target brain area to stimulate neuronal excitement. Designing a TMS coil requires conductivity knowledge to determine the distribution of the induced current density. However, extracting the real human subject-specific conductivity in routine is still a challenge. This work proposes a quantitative approach to obtain conductivity based on water content maps using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Water content was retrieved by MRI scanning with standard T1-weight sequences. Subject-specific conductivity images were mapped from water content via the "water content-conductivity" function. In vivo imaging was performed on a healthy volunteer. The results exhibited the proposed approach is capable of extracting conductivity values and providing subject-specific conductivity information for the design of TMS coil.