3-Dimensional Navigation for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment by Stereo Image Sensing

Abstract

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive method for treating various neurological and psychiatric disorders such as neuropathic pain that may be caused by lesions or diseases of the central or peripheral nervous system. A specific part of the brain is targeted for exposure to a localized magnetic field in order to relieve pain. Existing rTMS systems employ optical marker-based three-dimensional (3D) sensing techniques for positioning the stimulation coil to target the region to be treated in the brain and for referring to previously scanned MRI data to confirm the target position. When such marker-based sensing systems are used, physicians must perform registration for each treatment. In addition, the patient must remain immobile on the bed where the optical markers are set during treatment. To address these issues, we propose an image-based sensing method for rTMS employing a stereo camera to detect the shape of the patient's face rather than optical markers. The results of the present study show that the proposed method can be used to localize the stimulation target on the brain surface in real time while providing both an unconstrained therapeutic environment for patients and a registration-free system for physicians.