A Comparative Study of Cuff Electrode Designs: RF-Induced Heating in MRI and Therapeutic Efficiency

This study investigates the effects of the cuff electrode designs on the radiofrequency (RF)-induced heating under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment and its efficiency (in terms of neuron activation threshold) in delivering neural therapy to targeted nerve fiber. Eight different electrode designs were used in the study. For RF-induced heating evaluation, both numerical and measurement methods were used. To understand the efficiency of electrode design on neural therapy, modeling approach of using NERUON to estimate the activation threshold was used. It was observed that there is a tradeoff between the RF-induced heating with therapy efficiency. Smaller electrodes require less energy to activate neurons while larger electrode designs often lead to lower RF-induced heating for safety consideration. Therefore, for practical designs of electrodes, both factors should be considered.