In-vivo Validation of a Workflow to Predict Heating Around a Deep Brain Stimulation contacts

Motivation: To develop a reliable method to predict heating around deep brain stimulation implants as a safety assessment prior to scanning patients. Goal(s): To investigate the accuracy of a heating prediction workflow in-vivo. Approach: We surgically inserted a DBS electrode into swine brains and predicted the heating around DBS contacts, with and without perfusion. Our heating prediction workflow uses a new MR-based current measurement, proposed for this work, as well as quasi-static electromagnetic and thermal simulations to predict heating around the electrical contacts of DBS electrodes. Results: The predicted temperature around electrical contacts agreed with the measurements (NRMSE ≤ 0.09). Impact: Our workflow predicts heating around the electrical contacts in-vivo without complex modeling and simulations. The results demonstrate the reliability of the workflow to assess heating risk before scanning patients with DBS implants.