Fast EEG/MEG BEM-Based Forward Problem Solution for High-Resolution Head Models

A fast BEM (boundary element method) based approach is developed to solve an EEG/MEG forward problem for a modern high-resolution head model. The method utilizes a charge-based BEM accelerated by the fast multipole method (BEM-FMM) with an adaptive mesh pre-refinement method (called b-refinement) close to the singular dipole source(s). No costly matrix-filling or direct solution steps typical for the standard BEM are required; the method generates on-skin voltages as well as MEG magnetic fields for high-resolution head models within 90 seconds after initial model assembly using a regular workstation. The forward method is validated by comparison against an analytical solution on a spherical shell model as well as comparison against a full h-refinement method on realistic 1M facet human head models, both of which yield agreement to within 5% for the EEG skin potential and MEG magnetic fields. The method is further applied to an EEG source localization (inverse) problem for real human data, and a reasonable source dipole distribution is found.