Method and apparatus for dose computation of magnetic stimulation
First Claim
1. A method for determining the effect of magnetic stimulation on human brain, the method comprising the step of determining the stimulation dose in different parts of the brain by summing cumulatively the electric field strength generated by the individual stimulus pulses, characterized in that the position and alignment of a magnetic stimulation coil (1) is determined separately for each applied stimulus pulse in three dimensions relative to the head (5), the number, repetition rate and intensity of the pulses generated by the magnetic stimulation coil (1) are measured separately for each pulse, the coordinate data of the brain are determined substantially unambiguously in the same coordinate system with the magnetic stimulation coil (1) on the basis of information obtained from other kind of measurement, such as a tomographic scan or, e.g., a statistic database collected from a large number of patients, and the cumulative dose of electromagnetic radiation imposed on said desired point in the brain is determined on the basis of the location data available from the brain and the measurement data computed for the cumulative effect of the electromagnetic field evoked by said magnetic stimulation coil (1).
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method for determining the effect of magnetic stimulation on human brain. According to the method, the stimulation dose is determined in different parts of the brain by summing cumulatively the electric field strength generated by the individual stimulus pulses. According to the invention, the position and alignment of a magnetic stimulation coil (1) is determined separately for each applied stimulus pulse in three dimensions relative to the head (5), the number, repetition rate and intensity generated by the magnetic stimulation coil (1) are measured separately for each pulse, the coordinate data of the brain are determined substantially unambiguously in the same coordinate system with the magnetic stimulation coil (1) on the basis of information obtained from other kind of measurement, such as a tomographic scan or, e.g., a statistic database collected from a large number of patients, and the cumulative dose of electromagnetic radiation imposed on said desired point in the brain is determined on the basis of the location data available from the brain and the measurement data computed for the cumulative effect of the electromagnetic field evoked by said magnetic stimulation coil (1).
83 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for determining the effect of magnetic stimulation on human brain, the method comprising the step of
determining the stimulation dose in different parts of the brain by summing cumulatively the electric field strength generated by the individual stimulus pulses, characterized in that the position and alignment of a magnetic stimulation coil (1) is determined separately for each applied stimulus pulse in three dimensions relative to the head (5), the number, repetition rate and intensity of the pulses generated by the magnetic stimulation coil (1) are measured separately for each pulse, the coordinate data of the brain are determined substantially unambiguously in the same coordinate system with the magnetic stimulation coil (1) on the basis of information obtained from other kind of measurement, such as a tomographic scan or, e.g., a statistic database collected from a large number of patients, and the cumulative dose of electromagnetic radiation imposed on said desired point in the brain is determined on the basis of the location data available from the brain and the measurement data computed for the cumulative effect of the electromagnetic field evoked by said magnetic stimulation coil (1).
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12. An apparatus suited for stimulation of living tissue such as human brain, the apparatus comprising
a magnetic stimulator (8) with a coil (1), and a computer (3) with a display device (4), characterized in that the apparatus includes a location device (2, 7) for locating the position and alignment of the coil (1) relative to the head (5), and a measurement unit (2) capable of measuring the intensity of stimulation in relative units between the individual pulses and then issuing to the computer (3) information on the instant of stimulus pulse application, whereby the apparatus is capable of computing from the position and alignment of the coil (1) the magnitude of electromagnetic field or the electric current generated thereby in the different parts of the brain and subsequently performing dose computation after the administration of the stimulus pulses by way of summing the magnitudes of the electric field or current separately at desired points in the brain.
Specification