Automated modeling of brain bioelectric activity within the 3D Slicer environment

TL;DR

This paper introduces an automatic framework within 3D Slicer for constructing patient-specific brain models to accurately solve the iEEG forward problem using FEM, aiding epilepsy treatment planning.

Contribution

It presents a novel automated method for creating personalized brain models and visualizing bioelectric activity within 3D Slicer, integrating tissue inhomogeneity and anisotropy.

Findings

Successful application to an epilepsy case study

Accurate modeling of tissue conductivity effects

Enhanced visualization of brain bioelectric fields

Abstract

Electrocorticography (ECoG) or intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) monitors electric potential directly on the surface of the brain and can be used to inform treatment planning for epilepsy surgery when paired with numerical modeling. For solving the inverse problem in epilepsy seizure onset localization, accurate solution of the iEEG forward problem is critical which requires accurate representation of the patient's brain geometry and tissue electrical conductivity. In this study, we present an automatic framework for constructing the brain volume conductor model for solving the iEEG forward problem and visualizing the brain bioelectric field on a deformed patient-specific brain model within the 3D Slicer environment. We solve the iEEG forward problem on the predicted postoperative geometry using the finite element method (FEM) which accounts for patient-specific inhomogeneity and anisotropy of tissue conductivity. We use an epilepsy case study to illustrate the workflow of our framework developed and integrated within 3D Slicer.