Analysis of Focused Ultrasound Stimulation in Spinal Cord Stimulation: Computational Study

抄録

Low-intensity focused ultrasound (FUS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation technique with improved spatial precision and penetration depth compared to other noninvasive stimulation approaches. FUS has demonstrated its efficacy in modulating the human brain. While transspinal focused ultrasound stimulation (tsFUS) has been reported to modulate spinal reflexes in healthy rats, there are no reports on humans, mainly due to complexity on spinal cord targeting and safety concerns. The aim of this work is to computationally explore the feasibility of tsFUS in humans, using linear pressure wave equation to estimate acoustic pressure on the spinal cord (Sim4life). The results indicate that the maximum acoustic pressure in the spinal cord was three times higher than that in the brain (thalamus) for the same stimulation intensity at 500 kHz. This suggest the viability of tsFUS in humans applications.