Analysis of simultaneous MEG and intracranial LFP recordings during Deep Brain Stimulation: a protocol and experimental validation

J Neurosci Methods. 2016 Mar 1:261:29-46. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.11.029. Epub 2015 Dec 14.

Abstract

Background: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an effective treatment for several neurological and psychiatric disorders. In order to gain insights into the therapeutic mechanisms of DBS and to advance future therapies a better understanding of the effects of DBS on large-scale brain networks is required.

New method: In this paper, we describe an experimental protocol and analysis pipeline for simultaneously performing DBS and intracranial local field potential (LFP) recordings at a target brain region during concurrent magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurement. Firstly we describe a phantom setup that allowed us to precisely characterise the MEG artefacts that occurred during DBS at clinical settings.

Results: Using the phantom recordings we demonstrate that with MEG beamforming it is possible to recover oscillatory activity synchronised to a reference channel, despite the presence of high amplitude artefacts evoked by DBS. Finally, we highlight the applicability of these methods by illustrating in a single patient with Parkinson's disease (PD), that changes in cortical-subthalamic nucleus coupling can be induced by DBS.

Comparison with existing approaches: To our knowledge this paper provides the first technical description of a recording and analysis pipeline for combining simultaneous cortical recordings using MEG, with intracranial LFP recordings of a target brain nucleus during DBS.

Keywords: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS); Local Field Potential (LFP); Magnetoencephalography (MEG); Parkinson's disease.

Publication types

  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Artifacts
  • Brain / physiopathology*
  • Brain / surgery
  • Cortical Synchronization / physiology
  • Deep Brain Stimulation / instrumentation
  • Deep Brain Stimulation / methods*
  • Humans
  • Implantable Neurostimulators
  • Magnetoencephalography / instrumentation
  • Magnetoencephalography / methods*
  • Male
  • Models, Neurological
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology
  • Parkinson Disease / surgery
  • Parkinson Disease / therapy
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted