Cameron McIntyre - Connectomic Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established clinical therapy for the treatment of movement disorders, and evolving to become a viable clinical option for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. In either case, current scientific understanding suggests that the mechanisms of DBS therapy are rooted in the disruption of pathologic brain network activity. In parallel, MRI-based modeling of the human brain structural connectome have facilitated the development of computational strategies to simulate the network effects of DBS on a patient-specific basis, and in turn advance understanding of the pathologic circuits underlying the symptoms. In addition, connectomic DBS models can be used to guide surgical planning and/or stimulation parameter customization. This presentation will describe the evolution of connectomic DBS concepts and methods, and present examples of their application in clinical research studies.