Multichannel Transcranial Acoustoelectric Brain Imaging in a Human Head Model

Abstract

Epilepsy is a neurological disease that affects more than 50 million individualsworldwide. About 1/6 of these are non-responsive to drug treatment and are candidates for resective surgery for treatment. Present methods for localization of neuronal activity for individuals requiring resective surgery have either poor temporal or spatial resolution or are invasive. Transcranial Acoustoelectric Brain Imaging(tABI) is a novel imaging technique with the potential to non-invasively image neuronal activity with millimeter resolution. Prior developments have shown the feasibility of acoustoelectric imaging for 4D in-vivo heart and human head phantoms. In this thesis, multichannel acquisition of the acoustoelectric signal in a human head model is demonstrated as a steppingstone towards a new electrical brain imaging modality for humans. Challenges with acoustoelectric signal levels, signal-to-noise ratios, hardware configurations, and phantom fidelity are addressed. Sensitivities of 4 μV/(mA∙MPa) to injected current are reported for the multichannel measurement with 12 channels on a human head model. Insights gained from this thesis for hardware designs and setups may improve the sensitivity in the human head model by 20dB or more. The results demonstrate the improvement of acoustoelectric imaging techniques and the potential feasibility of tABI as a revolutionary imaging modality of neuronal activity.