Neuromagnetic source imaging of abnormal spontaneous activity in tinnitus patient modulated by electrical cortical stimulation

Rey René Ramírez, Brian Harris Kopell, Christopher R. Butson, Wolfgang Gaggl, David R. Friedland, Sylvain Baillet

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electrical cortical stimulation (CS) of the auditory cortices has been shown to reduce the severity of debilitating tinnitus in some patients. In this study, we performed MEG source imaging of spontaneous brain activity during concurrent CS of the left secondary auditory cortex of a volunteer suffering from right unilateral tinnitus. CS produced MEG artifacts which were successfully sorted and removed using a combination of sensor and source level signal separation and classification techniques. This contribution provides the first proof of concept reporting on analysis of MEG data with concurrent CS. Effects of CS on ongoing brain activity were revealed at the MEG sensor and source levels and indicate CS significantly reduced ongoing brain activity in the lower frequency range (<40Hz), and emphasized its higher (>40Hz), gamma range components. Further, our results show that CS increased the spectral correlation across multiple frequency bands in the low and high gamma ranges, and between the alpha and beta bands of the MEG. Finally, MEG sources localized in the auditory cortices and nearby regions exhibited abnormal spectral activity that was suppressed by CS. These results provide promising evidence in favor of the Thalamocortical Dysrhytmia (TCD) hypothesis of tinnitus, and suggest that CS may prove to be an effective treatment of tinnitus when targeted to brain regions exhibiting abnormal spontaneous activity.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
Subtitle of host publicationEngineering the Future of Biomedicine, EMBC 2009
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages1940-1944
Number of pages5
ISBN (Print)9781424432967
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes
Event31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: Engineering the Future of Biomedicine, EMBC 2009 - Minneapolis, MN, United States
Duration: 2 Sep 20096 Sep 2009

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: Engineering the Future of Biomedicine, EMBC 2009

Conference

Conference31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: Engineering the Future of Biomedicine, EMBC 2009
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMinneapolis, MN
Period2/09/096/09/09

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